In another controversial move, China has recently dispatched a state-of-the-art patrol ship to the South China Sea – possibly in response to the signing of the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law and the recent altercation with a U.S. surveillance vessel.
The Philippines believe the move to be a show of intimidation in the region following the island country’s claim on the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
“The deployment of the patrol ship was a message and we cannot just ignore it,” Philippines National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “We have to take it seriously.”
While the Philippines maintain that their claim is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it has been met with fierce protest in Beijing where the Baseline Law is regarded as ‘illegal.’
The Spratly Islands are claimed in full by China and Vietnam, as well as partly by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, as well as Taiwan, and have been a contentious topic for years.