The Philippine Coast Guard is conducting drills in the South China Sea, which an official said yesterday were part of efforts to secure “our maritime jurisdiction” over the waters disputed by several countries, including Taiwan.

The coast guard drills near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) and China-controlled Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), both of which are also claimed by Taiwan, come amid heightened tensions over the resource-rich sea.

The latest row between the two nations was triggered by the detection last month of hundreds of Chinese vessels in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which are also claimed by Taiwan.

Most of the boats have since dispersed.

China — which claims almost the entirety of the sea — has refused repeated demands by the Philippines to call back the ships, which Manila says are maritime militia vessels and Beijing says are fishing boats.

The Philippines has deployed more patrol vessels, including coast guard and navy ships, to intensify surveillance and prevent illegal fishing. The coast guard drills began last week.

“We are supporting the whole-of-nation approach in securing our maritime jurisdiction,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Armando Balilo said.

Scarborough — one of the region’s richest fishing grounds — has long been a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing, with China seizing it in 2012.

The drills began as the Philippine armed forces held joint exercises with US soldiers that finished on Friday last week.

Beijing has ignored a 2016 international tribunal decision that declared its historical claim over most of the South China Sea to be without basis.

Relations with Beijing have warmed under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who set aside the ruling in exchange for promises of trade and investment, but the Philippine foreign and defense secretaries have been engaged in a war of words with Beijing.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has filed daily protests over the Chinese vessels and summoned Beijing’s envoy to express its “utmost displeasure” over the issue.
https://taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2021/04/26/2003756380