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Spratly Islands: are Chinese boats baiting fish, or the Philippines?
- Reports of more than 200 vessels at the disputed Whitsun Reef have added to complaints that Beijing is militarising the South China Sea
- As Manila calls the presence a maritime militia and Beijing maintains they are sheltering fishers, the Philippines weighs how to respond
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A disagreement between China and the Philippines over 200-plus Chinese vessels’ presence at a disputed South China Sea reef has sparked concerns Beijing is upping efforts to control the contested waters.
Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has demanded the vessels leave Whitsun Reef, located in a shallow coral region in the Spratly Islands, about 320km (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan, in the Philippines.
Manila has threatened to deploy additional navy ships to counter what it called an “incursion” and “militarising the area” by vessels that Lorenzana classed as “maritime militia”. Beijing insists they are fishing boats sheltering from rough seas.
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Collin Koh, a research fellow from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said he suspected the vessels were not only fishing boats, and they represented a challenge to Manila.
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“It’s by now an open secret that the Chinese authorities are in the midst of enhancing their maritime militia, especially its ability to fish and fight,” Koh said. “The fishers are expected, even when engaged in fishery production work, to perform their patriotic duty as maritime militiamen.
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