Philippines halts South China Sea survey after ‘harassment’ from Beijing’s coastguard, navy
The coastguard said a mission to collect sand samples was suspended due to the ‘disregard for safety exhibited by the Chinese maritime forces’
Manila and Beijing have had a series of escalating confrontations in disputed waters of the South China Sea. China claims almost all the strategic waterway, through which US$3 trillion of commerce moves annually, overlapping with claims by the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
On Friday, two Philippine Bureau of Fisheries vessels, on their way to collect sand samples from Sandy Cay near the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, encountered “aggressive manoeuvres” from three Chinese coastguard vessels, the Philippine coastguard said in a statement.
Thitu lies about 430km (267 miles) from the major Philippine island of Palawan and more than 900km from China’s nearest major land mass of Hainan Island.
Chinese forces garrison the Subi Reef near Thitu.
In a statement, China coastguard said China has “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, including Sandy Cay - which it calls Tiexian Reef - and that it had intercepted two Philippine vessels and driven them away in accordance with law.
