A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
South China Sea
China /  Diplomacy

China’s neighbours bolster their coastguards as stand-off stokes tensions in disputed South China Sea

  • Philippines and Vietnam moved to empower their coastguards after heavily armed Chinese and Vietnamese coastguard ships began eyeing one another at Vanguard Bank
  • Stand-off points to the active role being played by coastguard vessels in Asia’s most complex territorial dispute

Topic |   South China Sea
Laura Zhou
Laura Zhou

Updated: 12:28pm, 21 Jul, 2019

Why you can trust SCMP
A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
A Philippine coastguard ship sails past a Chinese coastguard vessel during a Philippine-US rescue exercise near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
READ FULL ARTICLE