Philippines asks Chinese fishing flotilla to leave disputed South China Sea reef

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that fishing boats were involved in routine operations in what China calls the Nansha Islands.

“For a long time, Chinese fishing boats have been fishing in adjacent waters. Some vessels have been protecting themselves from the wind. It is very normal. We hope that the relevant sides can look at this rationally,” said spokesman Hua Chunying. .

Lorenzana classified the events as a “clear provocative action to militarize the area” in a statement released by the ANP.

The Chinese fishing fleet

China has been accused of using its vast fishing fleets to help defend Beijing’s territorial claims along the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea, although China has dismissed the charges as unfounded.

While the Whitsun Reef still remains outside Beijing’s direct control, China has unilaterally transformed other reefs in the Spratly chain into artificial islands with substantial infrastructure and military fortifications, including missiles, runways and weapon systems.

And the Chinese fishing fleet has been lobbying other Filipino claims on the Spratlys.

Chinese warships go to the Sea of ​​Japan

While Chinese ships drew attention in the South China Sea, the People’s Liberation Army Navy showed some of its muscles recently acquired in the waters of the Sea of ​​Japan.

“Entering the Sea of ​​Japan shows that Type 055 has gained the ability to patrol distant maritime regions and is an indication of the progress of the PLA Navy,” Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense said reconnaissance aircraft confirmed that Chinese ships had passed through the Tsushima Strait, saying it was the first time that Japanese forces had located the Type 055 destroyer.

Type 055 is seen as a key component of the rapidly modernizing Chinese fleet as the PLA Navy pushes to project its influence away from the country’s coast.

“This particular ship has a sophisticated design, stealth capabilities, radar and a large inventory of missiles. It is bigger and more powerful than most American, Japanese and South Korean destroyers,” said senior analyst Timothy Heath of Rand Corp.

After these talks, Japan’s foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said the United States and Japan “oppose any attempt to change the status quo in the area, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea”.

Motegi also said the United States had reconfirmed its commitment to help Japan defend Senkakus, a series of disputed islands in the East China Sea that China calls Diayous and claims to be its own.

But in the Global Times report, Song, the military expert, said that the placement of Chinese warships in the Sea of ​​Japan was probably planned long ago and was routine.

“PLA training is not aimed at Japan or the United States, but those countries are likely to see it that way because they see China as their imaginary enemy,” Song said in the report.

“PLA needs to increase its combat capability in distant seas to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests in an uncertain and unstable world, with external threats from a small US-led circle,” Song told the Global Times.