BEIJING (AP) – Bad weather has caused more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels to anchor on a reef claimed by the Philippines, Beijing said on Monday, avoiding Manila’s accusations of a movement by the vast Chinese maritime militia in the China Sea. Southern to assert control of the area.
However, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hua Chunying, openly told reporters at a news conference on Monday that Whitsun Reef was part of the Spratly Islands, one of the main archipelagos in the South China Sea, that the China claims virtually in its entirety.
“Recently, due to sea conditions, some Chinese fishing boats took shelter from the wind near the Whitsun reef. I think it is very normal and I hope that all parties can look at it in a rational way, ”said Hua at the daily briefing.
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana asked China on Sunday to “stop this incursion and immediately call back these boats that violate our maritime rights and invade our sovereign territory”
The presence of the vessels was a “provocative action to militarize the area,” said Lorenzana.
A Philippine government watchman who oversees the disputed region released March 7 photos of the ships anchored side by side in one of the most disputed areas of the strategic waterway. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted on Sunday night that the Philippines had filed a diplomatic protest against the Chinese presence.
The reef, which Manila calls Julian Felipe, is a shallow region of boomerang-shaped coral about 175 nautical miles (324 kilometers) west of the city of Bataraza, in the western Philippines’ province of Palawan. It is well within the country’s exclusive economic zone, over which the Philippines “has the exclusive right to exploit or conserve any resources,” said the government’s supervisory body.
For decades, China, the Philippines and four other governments have been trapped in a tense territorial standoff over the resource-rich South China Sea, where about $ 5 trillion in international trade circulates annually.
China’s fishing fleets have long followed government orders to assist the coast guard and navy in defending the country’s maritime claims. They were also accused of overfishing and degradation of coral reefs, supported by Chinese military personnel who built airfields and missile bases on artificial islands built by stacking sand and concrete over fragile marine ecosystems.
China has refused to recognize a 2016 court decision in The Hague that invalidated almost all of China’s historic claims to the South China Sea, and routinely protests the presence of navies from other countries in what is predominantly seen as international waters. China says it does not restrict the right of passage through the area, but has repeatedly discussed with other claimants about the exploitation of resources, military activities and even projects to explore old shipwrecks.