The Philippines protests China’s deployment of the “giant ship” in the maritime area South China Sea News

A spokesman for the Philippine National Security Council said Manila was surprised by China’s “increasing aggression” in the maritime dispute.

The Philippines said China’s deployment of its largest coast guard ship within Manila’s exclusive maritime economic zone is alarming and clearly intended to intimidate fishermen operating around shoals in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for the Philippine National Security Council, said on Tuesday that Manila had lodged a protest over the presence of the 165-meter (541-foot) Chinese Coast Guard Vessel 5901, which was spotted 77 nautical miles (142 kilometers) off the coast of the province. Zambales. It demanded withdrawal from the exclusive economic zone.

“We are surprised by the increasing aggression shown by the People’s Republic of China in deploying the giant ship,” Malaya said.

He added: “It is an escalation and a provocation,” considering that the ship’s presence is “illegal” and “unacceptable.”

The Philippine Coast Guard said it deployed two of its largest ships to ward off the Chinese ship.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun said on Monday that the coast guard’s “patrolling and law enforcement activities” were “reasonable, lawful and cannot be blamed” in the area.

The Philippine National Maritime Council on Monday also condemned the “illegal presence and operations” of “Chinese naval forces and militias” within the country’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, identifying two coast guard ships and a Chinese naval helicopter that “hovered over” a maritime area. Philippine Coast Guard ship.

“The escalatory actions of these Chinese ships and aircraft clearly ignore Philippine and international laws,” the council said in a statement.

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Tensions between the Philippines and Beijing have increased significantly over the past two years due to overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

In 2016, an international court ruled that China’s claims to sovereignty over large swaths of the disputed waterway were baseless, a decision rejected by Beijing.

China’s expansionist claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The South China Sea is a strategic shipping route through which annual trade worth about $3 trillion moves.