China Muscles In On South China Sea Filling It With Hundreds Of Boats
has filled the disputed South China Sea with more than 200 boats lashed together in rows in an act of aggression designed to 'squeeze out' other countries in Asia, experts warn.
Beijing have claimed the Chinese vessels, first spotted earlier this month off the coast of the Philippines, are merely fishing boats sheltering from bad weather which are allowed to be there.
But satellite images show hundreds of ships - believed to be manned by Chinese militia personnel - lined closely together whilst anchored at Whitsun Reef, 350 kilmotres west of Palawan Island in the contested South China Sea.
Some of the vessels have since scattered across the Spratly Islands, but last week dozens of the Chinese-flagged boats were still anchored at the boomerang-shaped reef, according to Philippine military patrols.
This is despite the Philippines calling on Beijing to withdraw the 'maritime militia' vessels for weeks, saying their incursion into their exclusive economic zone is unlawful.
China has filled the disputed South China Sea with more than 200 boats lashed together in rows in an act of aggression designed to 'squeeze out' other countries in Asia, experts warn
Satellite images show hundreds of ships - believed to be manned by Chinese militia personnel - lined closely together whilst anchored at Whitsun Reef, 350 kilmotres west of Palawan Island in the contested South China Sea
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'Beijing pretty clearly thinks that if it uses enough coercion and pressure over a long enough period of time, it will squeeze the Southeast Asians out,' Greg Poling, the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US told . 'It's insidious.'
The Philippine government's National Task Force-West Philippines Sea said they counted 254 ships as well as four Chinese warships in the Spratly Islands on March 29.
They claimed the ships were not fishing vessels as China had claimed - but instead part of China's maritime militia, an group of sometimes armed civilians in the sea.
China, Du lịch Côn Đảo which claims almost the entirety of the resource-rich China sea, has so far refused to move the boats from the area - where both the Philippines and Vietnams have claims.
Some of the vessels have since scattered across the Spratly Islands, but last week dozens of the Chinese-flagged boats were still anchored at the boomerang-shaped reef, according to Philippine military patrols
Some of the more than 220 Chinese vessels reported by the Philippine Coast Guard
The presence of such a large fleet of Chinese ships is meant to intimidate, Mr Poling argues.
'By having them there, and spreading them out across these expanses of water around the reefs the others occupy, or around oil and gas fields or Du lịch Côn Đảo fishing grounds, you are steadily pushing the Filipinos and the Vietnamese out,' he said.
'If you're a Filipino fisherman, you're always getting harassed by these guys.
'They're always maneuvering a little too close, blowing horns at you. At some point you just give up and stop fishing there.'
A satellite image shows a Chinese vessel anchored at the Whitsun reef on March 23
The presence of the vessels could ignite 'unwanted hostilities', a top aide to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned today, intensifying the diplomatic spat over the ships.
Duterte's top legal counsel Salvador Panelo warned China's 'present territorial incursions is producing an unwelcome stain in their bond and may trigger unwanted hostilities that both countries would rather not pursue.'
'The matter of territorial dispute has to be resolved in the diplomatic negotiating table or by the dictates of international law,' Panelo said in a statement.
It comes a day after outspoken Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana accused Beijing of planning to occupy more 'features' in the waters - where Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have rival claims.
The presence of the vessels could ignite 'unwanted hostilities', a top aide to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured with China's Prsident Xi Jinping in 2018) warned today, intensifying the diplomatic spat over the ships
'The Chinese ambassador has a lot of explaining to do,' Lorenzana said in a statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's foreign ministry had accused China of violating their sovereignty and demanded the ships leave.
China responded to the complaints with foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying saying that Chinese fishermen 'have been fishing in the waters near the reef all along' - something that Philippine officials say there is no evidence of.
Beijing often invokes the so-called nine-dash line to justify its apparent historic rights over most of the South China Sea, and has ignored a 2016 international tribunal decision that declared this assertion as without basis.
The Philippine foreign ministry, Côn Đảo which has already lodged a diplomatic protest over the ships, vowed Monday to send a complaint 'for every day' Beijing delays pulling out the vessels.
In an apparent reference to China's donation of Covid-19 vaccines, Panelo said the Philippines appreciated the 'humanitarian gesture'.
But he added: 'We will not be blinded however by any act done by it in violation of international law and in derogation of our sovereign rights.'
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