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MANILA: The Philippine military ordered the deployment of more Navy ships to the South China Sea today amid a growing diplomatic dispute over a fleet of Chinese ships stationed near a disputed reef.
China claims almost all of the resource-rich sea and was accused by the United States this week of efforts to “intimidate and provoke others” by parking its boats near Whitsun Reef.
Manila ordered Beijing to remove 183 ships from the boomerang-shaped reef about 200 miles west of the island of Palawan, describing their presence as an incursion into its sovereign territory.
About 220 ships were spotted by the Philippine coast guard on March 7, but were only made public last weekend.
A military air patrol over the reef found 183 were still there on Monday.
China says fishing boats are protecting themselves from bad weather near the reef, which it claims is part of the disputed Spratly Islands.
A spokesman for the Philippine Armed Forces said additional navy ships would carry out “sovereignty patrols” on the waterway.
He did not say whether the boats would approach the reef or what kind of boats would be used.
The diplomatic row has escalated with several countries, including Canada, Australia and Japan, expressing concern about renewed tensions in the region.
Beijing often invokes the so-called nine-line line to justify its apparent historical rights to most of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei.
China ignored a 2016 international court decision that declared its claim unfounded.
Relations between the Philippines and China have heated up under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has sought greater economic cooperation with Beijing.
He has repeatedly said that the conflict with China would be futile and that the Philippines would lose and suffer greatly in the process.
Duterte met with the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines this week and expressed concern over the presence of the ships, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said today.
But Roque said “there was no real controversy since they (the Chinese) are not insisting on staying there permanently.”
