Chinese Navy says Philippine warship illegally entered Scarborough Shoal waters
China's military said late Sunday that a Philippine naval vessel had 'illegally entered' the claimed territorial waters of Scarborough Shoal, a key flash point in the disputed South China Sea.
The Chinese military's Southern Theater Command said it had organized navy vessels to track, monitor, warn and drive away the Philippine vessel, which it identified as the Apolinario Mabini corvette.
The two countries have repeatedly butted heads over the South China Sea, usually with their respective coast guards. But Sunday's incident was a rare instance involving the militaries of both countries, and it came amid fears that a clash or accident could erupt into a full-blown conflict.
Southern Theater Command spokesperson Zhao Zhiwei said in a statement that the actions by the Philippine side 'seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty.'
"We warn the Philippine side to immediately cease its provocative actions; otherwise, the Philippine side will bear all consequences," Zhao said. "The troops of the theater command maintain a high alert level at all times, resolutely defending national sovereignty and security and firmly upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea region."
A spokesperson for the Philippine Navy on Monday said the Chinese side's claims were 'part of shaping or malign info operations more likely for their internal audience.'
'Only the Philippine Navy and other Philippine flagged law enforcement ships have the authority and legal bases to challenge any ship within maritime zones,' local media quoted spokesperson Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad as saying.
Disputed by the two countries for decades, Scarborough Shoal is an atoll located some 125 nautical miles (about 230 kilometers) west of the Philippine island of Luzon. Although Manila claims it as part of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the uninhabited feature is effectively controlled by Beijing, which has maintained a constant coast guard presence there since 2012.
The waters around, and skies above, the shoal have been the scene of several close encounters in recent years, including a Chinese military helicopter flight in February that came as close as 3 meters to a Philippine government plane on patrol while carrying a Japan Times reporter.
The Feb. 18 incident was one of the countries' closest encounters ever in the skies above the disputed waterway — and one that could well have ended in disaster.
Late last month, satellite images also showed that China had deployed two long-range H-6 bombers around the shoal — a move that came ahead of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's visit to the Philippines.
Under what it calls the "nine-dash line," Beijing maintains a claim to some 90% of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade flow every year, overlapping with the EEZs of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.
China has, at the same time, hardened its position on the strategic waterway, which flies in the face of a July 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidating most of its claims in the South China Sea, prompting pushback from other claimants.
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