MANILA: The Philippines said Sunday it had deployed a coastguard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that went against it, and there have been frequent clashes or tense standoffs between Philippine and Chinese vessels. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman, said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 111 km west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement.

He later told reporters Manila had deployed a coastguard ship to the area to challenge the “unlawful” Chinese patrols. He said the deployment aimed to ensure Chinese patrols “are not normalized, and that this bullying behavior does not succeed”.

Tarriela said the Chinese coastguard deployed three vessels from its Guangdong and Hainan bases to Philippine waters between Dec 30 and Jan 11. The South China Sea confrontations have sparked concern they could draw the United States, Manila’s long-time security ally, into armed conflict with China. – AFP