More than two hundred Chinese ships are assembled near Niuyu Reef in the South China Sea. (Philippine Coast Guard Handout/AFP)
The Philippine Coast Guard Handout/AFP said in a statement issued on March 20 that about 220 Chinese fishing boats have been gathering around Niu Yoke Reef, about 320 kilometers west of Palawan, and that the people on board are believed to be Chinese maritime militia.
The Philippine Department of Defense said on the 21st that this is a “clear provocation to militarize the area” and asked the Chinese vessels to leave immediately; the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs also lodged a diplomatic protest that night.
More than 200 Chinese ships are assembled in the South China Sea near Niu Yue Reef. (Philippine Coast Guard Handout/AFP)
Chinese ships near Ngau Yoke Reef in the South China Sea, pictured on March 23. (Philippine Coast Guard Handout/AFP)
More than 200 Chinese ships are assembled near Niuyu Reef in the South China Sea. (Philippine Coast Guard Handout/AFP)
The Philippine military’s air patrols found 183 ships still stranded around Ngau Yoke Reef on the 22nd. Manila asked Beijing to recall the vessels, saying they were intruding on Philippine sovereign territory.
The Philippine military announced Thursday (25) that it would send additional warships in response.
A spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines said the additional naval vessels would be sent on “sovereign patrol duties” in the South China Sea. He did not say whether the warships would patrol near Ngau Yoke Reef, nor did he say what type of warships would be used.
Harry Roque, a spokesman for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, said at a press conference on Thursday, “The president said we are really worried, and any country would be worried about the number of these ships.”
The spokesman also said that in a meeting with Chinese Communist Party Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, Duterte reiterated that the international tribunal ruled in 2016 on the sovereignty dispute between the two countries in the South China Sea, with the Philippines being the winning party.
China claims sovereignty over most of the waters in the South China Sea, but in 2016 the Hague-based International Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled in response to a lawsuit filed by Manila that the Chinese Communist Party has no “historical rights” to the strategic waters.
Scholars: Fear of a repeat of the 1995 occupation of Mischief Reef
The Chinese side said that the fishing boats were sheltering from the wind near Ngau Yoke Reef because of “bad weather”. But the Chinese side’s claim has been questioned because even after the weather improved, the number of boats increased instead of being evacuated.
Antonio Carpio, a former Philippine justice who specializes in the South China Sea, told the media that the recent gathering of more than 200 Chinese ships on NiuYeYu Reef in the South China Sea could be a prelude to the Chinese occupation of the island in the disputed waters, threatening a repeat of the 1995 occupation of Mischief Reef by the Chinese. At the beginning, the Chinese Communist Party also said it was only building a shelter for fishermen on Meeji Reef.
This is not the first Time they have done this,” Carpio said. Last year at this time, in 2020 they also parked 100 boats on NiuYu Reef. So this is a prelude, in my opinion, to the occupation of Bull Yoke Reef.”
In addition, according to the latest satellite images taken by the U.S. space technology company Maxar Technologies, the second largest “island” in the Spratly Islands, Zhubi Reef, where China started to turn reefs into islands in 2015, has also recently recreated The “land reclamation” project.
West worried about Britain, France and Germany recently sent ships through the South China Sea
In the South China Sea diplomatic disputes rise, Canada, Australia and Japan have expressed concern about the re-emergence of tensions in the South China Sea.
In addition, Britain, France and Germany have announced earlier that they have sent ships through the South China Sea to exercise the right of “freedom of navigation”.
British Prime Minister Johnson announced earlier in the House of Commons that the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth will cruise the Indo-Pacific later this year. On February 8 of this year, French Defense Minister Florence Parly also announced that the nuclear-powered attack submarine Emerald and the support ship Seine had recently passed through the waters of the South China Sea.
French Defense Minister Florence Parly posted last month that her country’s ships have been cruising in the South China Sea and other Indo-Pacific waters. (Parly tweet)
German government officials also said on March 2 that one of the country’s frigates will travel to Asia in August and will pass through the disputed South China Sea on its return trip, becoming the first German warship to pass through the South China Sea since 2002.
In addition, a Canadian Navy warship passed through the Taiwan Strait in January to join Australian, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces conducting military exercises in nearby waters.
The Australian Navy on Thursday uploaded photos on social media showing the frigate ANZAC and the supply ship USS Sirius in the South China Sea as part of a deployment in the northern Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, taken on March 17. The military said the two ships are on a two-month deployment in the region, during which they will participate in a number of bilateral and multilateral events, including a French-led exercise in the northern Indian Ocean. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said March 23 that the U.S. Navy’s SHIELD cruiser USS Bunker Hill completed a passage exercise with the ANZAC in the Indian Ocean on March 10 to train both sides in communications and navigation techniques. The exercise demonstrated the interoperability of the U.S. and Australian forces, as well as examples of the relationship between the two countries.
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