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Philippines 'withdraws warship' amid China stand-off

Philippines 'withdraws warship' amid China stand-off
BBC News - Philippines 'withdraws warship' amid China stand-off

The Philippines says it has withdrawn its largest warship from a continuing stand-off with Chinese boats in the disputed South China Sea.

Earlier on Thursday a Philippine coastguard vessel arrived in the area, known as the Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippines also says China has sent a third ship to the scene.

The Philippine foreign minister said negotiations with China would continue. Both claim the shoal off the Philippines' north-west coast.

The Philippines said its warship found eight Chinese fishing vessels at the shoal when it was patrolling the area on Sunday.

It did not say why the warship had been pulled back. "That is an operational undertaking I can't discuss with you," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

"We are pursuing the diplomatic track in terms of coming to a resolution on the issue," Mr Del Rosario said.
Differing views

In a statement, the Philippines said that its navy boarded the Chinese fishing vessels on Tuesday and found a large amount of illegally-caught fish and coral.

Two Chinese surveillance ships then apparently arrived in the area, placing themselves between the warship and the fishing vessels, preventing the navy from making arrests.

The Philippines summoned Chinese ambassador Ma Keqing on Wednesday to lodge a protest over the incident. However, China maintained it had sovereign rights over the area and asked that the Philippine warship leave the waters.

China's state-run newspaper China Daily claimed in an editorial that the Chinese fishermen were "harassed" by the Philippine ship.

"China should take more measures to safeguard its maritime territory," the newspaper stated.

"The latest moves by China's two neighbours are beyond tolerance," it added, also referring to Vietnam. "They are blatant challenges to China's territorial integrity."

The stand-off comes as the Philippines prepares for joint naval exercises with the United States from the 16 to 27 April near the disputed area.

Six countries claim competing sovereignty over areas in the South China Sea, which is believed to contain huge deposits of oil and gas.

Along with China and the Philippines, they are Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China's claim includes almost the entire South China Sea, well into what the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea recognises as the 200-mile-from-shore Exclusive Economic Zones of other claimants.

That has led to occasional flare-ups and to competition to occupy islands, reefs and sandbars.

Perhaps Philippines has realised that uncle sam and its minions don't have what it takes to stand by a nation confronting the might of China!
 
ManilaBoy is right. We did not back down. We just replaced our ship. :coffee:

56 Meter Coast Guard Ships against large surveillance vessels. Tsk.

Who's brave now? :meeting:

That second hand ship from USA is the best asset you have in your inventory, of course you have to keep it. :coffee:
 
so is the shoal now chinese territory???
or should we expect more warnings from china??
Of course it is Chinese territory now. We have a permanent coast guard patrolling there and our fisherman fish there. If the Pinoys try to fish there or drill for oil there, we will ram them with our coast guard. If they try to open fire, then our warships come in and wax them just like PLA did with india in 1962.

Pinoy's "forward policy" failed :lol:
 
Perhaps Philippines has realised that uncle sam and its minions don't have what it takes to stand by a nation confronting the might of China!


Uncle Sam might be not interested in confronting China, But Weapons supplied by Uncle Sam will wreak Havoc in Chinese mainland after chinese in their delusional attitude of supramacy try to attack Phillipines.

Never corner a small nation with your might thinking that they will surrender to you. Might be in for a nasty surprise.

Today china claims Phillipines and vietnam's EEZ and attacks their fishing boats. Tommorow they will think they can run over these countries with no resistance. This is why I think all countries surrounding china should have nukes, including Japan.
 
I wonder if Russia will indirectly support China since China has supported them on Syria.


Russia will definitely support us politically but not militarily though. Not that China need her on that department. I don't believe the US is going to interfere because she reiterated many times that she's not going to get involve in these disputes and China is unlikely to make these into big conflicts
 
Russia will definitely support us politically but not militarily though. Not that China need her on that department. I don't believe the US is going to interfere because she reiterated many times that she's not going to get involve in these disputes and China is unlikely to make these into big conflicts

Anything directly against US, maybe they could side with us most of time, but mostly not for other things.
 
Anything directly against US, maybe they could side with us most of time, but mostly not for other things.


Like I said the whole SCS conflicts won't enlarge too much because China has been hinting that all along. The other small fishes are all talk and no walk. The worst Russia would say hey you guys deal with it. She's not going to openly support Vietnam though.
 
Of course it is Chinese territory now. We have a permanent coast guard patrolling there and our fisherman fish there. If the Pinoys try to fish there or drill for oil there, we will ram them with our coast guard. If they try to open fire, then our warships come in and wax them just like PLA did with india in 1962.

Pinoy's "forward policy" failed :lol:

no more nukes on manila??
 
You're talking like a kid with half a brain cell! Jeeez!
Indian shyte is all over this place....

Uncle Sam might be not interested in confronting China, But Weapons supplied by Uncle Sam will wreak Havoc in Chinese mainland after chinese in their delusional attitude of supramacy try to attack Phillipines.

Never corner a small nation with your might thinking that they will surrender to you. Might be in for a nasty surprise.

Today china claims Phillipines and vietnam's EEZ and attacks their fishing boats. Tommorow they will think they can run over these countries with no resistance. This is why I think all countries surrounding china should have nukes, including Japan.
Your statement make you look fool....
 
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