The Philippines and Vietnam protested the presence of a Chinese fishing fleet in disputed waters

 

 

 

 

 

The Philippines and Vietnam protested the presence of a Chinese fishing fleet in disputed waters in the South China Sea after the Philippines Coast Guard reported spotting around 220 ships in the area. 

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana described the new development as a “clear provocative action of militarizing the area” and called on Chinese authorities to recall the boats. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry echoed that claim, and Vietnamese state media emphasized that the reef was part of a Vietnamese province. 

China rejected the Philippines’s claim in a response that described the disputed reef by its Chinese name - claiming that the ships “have been fishing in the waters near the reef all along” while adding that “some fishing boats have been taking shelter from the wind.” 

The Philippines National Security Advisor, however, claimed that the ships were not fishing despite clear weather conditions - raising concerns among analysts. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea as its own despite an international arbitration court in 2016 ruling in favor of the Philippines in a case brought against Beijing over the contested waterway. Six other Asian governments – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam – have territorial claims or maritime boundaries in the South China Sea that overlap with the sweeping claims of China.
 

Photos: AP
 and Planet Labs