China ‘likely to agree to Duterte’s request for anti-piracy patrols’
Region of concern south of the Philippines is well away from disputed areas of South China Sea
China is likely to agree to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to sending sea patrols to help stop growing crime by Islamist militants along the southern coast of the Philippines.
Duterte said earlier in a speech to newly promoted Filipino generals that he had asked China to “patrol the international waters without necessarily intruding into the territorial waters of countries” in the southern waters of the island country in response to abducting sailors and attacking vessels in waters off the southern Philippines.
The request came after Abu Sayyaf, a small band of militants that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State group, began kidnapping sailors in waters between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines last year, taking several dozen hostages and attacking cargo ships.
Following the deaths of 14 people in a night market bombing last September, Secretary of National Defence Delfin Lorenzana requested two to three speedboats, two drones, a batch of sniper rifles and explosive ordnance disposal robots from a US$14 million arms donation from China