A handout photo released on 12 January by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing close to the Philippines coast. Photo: AFP / Philippine Coast Guard
The Philippines says China's deployment of its largest Coast Guard vessel inside Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is alarming and clearly meant to intimidate fishermen operating around a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
"We were surprised about the increasing aggression being showed by the People's Republic of China in deploying the monster ship," National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Manila has lodged a protest over the presence of the 165 metre long vessel Chinese Coast Guard vessel 5901, which was spotted 77 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales province, and demanded its withdrawal from the EEZ, Malaya said.
"It is an escalation and provocative," Malaya said, saying the presence the vessel was "illegal" and "unacceptable".
The Philippine Coast Guard said it had deployed two of its largest vessels to drive away the Chinese vessel.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that its Coast Guard's "patrol and law enforcement activities" were "reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach".
Tensions between the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and Beijing have escalated over the past two years due to overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled China's claims to large swathes of the disputed waterway had no basis, a decision Beijing rejects.
China's expansive claims overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The disputed waterway is a strategic shipping route through which about US$3 trillion (NZ$5.3 trilllion) of annual commerce moves.
-Reuters
