Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Philippine coast guard enters disputed shoal, China doesn’t object

Two Philippine Coast Guard ships have started patrolling the disputed Scarborough Shoal in what appears to be a new understanding with the Chinese.

The two vessels, the BRP Tubbataha and MCS 3010, arrived at Scarborough Shoal on 5 November and have already filed their first report, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commander Rear Admiral William Melad said on Monday.

“But the sea condition was bad and they only sighted one Filipino fishing boat in the area,” he told the Philippine Star.

When asked if there had been any encounters with Chinese vessels, Melad declined to comment.

This appears to be the start of a permanent Philippine presence on Scarborough, as the PCG plans to keep at least two ships in the vicinity of the shoal at any given time.

“Their mission is for the Philippine Coast Guard to sustain the government’s presence in the area and to assess the condition of our fishermen,” PCG spokesman Armand Balilo told the Philippine Star.

In addition to the Tubbataha and MCS 3010, four more ships are set to be deployed to Scarborough Shoal: BRP Davao del Norte and three of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) ships. A fifth vessel, BRP Pampanga, is also on standby.

Scarborough Shoal, which is known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag in the Philippines, is a disputed ridge in the South China Sea. Manila claims the shoal falls within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone but Beijing asserts that it is part of Chinese territorial waters, as per its claims to most of the South China Sea. Since 2012, Scarborough Shoal had been occupied by the Chinese, leading to complaints from Filipino fishing crews about harassment from the Chinese coast guard.
 [rt.com]
8/11/16
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