By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-14 07:26:18 | Updated at 2024-11-22 00:01:31
1 week ago
The Chinese coastguard patrolled around a contested South China Sea shoal on Thursday, a day after the country’s military mounted a joint sea and air patrol in the area.
“The China Coast Guard conducted law enforcement patrols in the territorial waters of China’s Huangyan Island and the surrounding area,” the China Coast Guard said, referring to Scarborough Shoal, known as Panatag Shoal in the Philippines
“This was a law-enforcement activity carried out by the Chinese maritime police in accordance with the law.”
The patrol comes less than a week after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr signed the Maritime Zones Act and Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, embedding Manila’s claims to the South China Sea in domestic law.
The US expressed its support for the Philippine legislation, saying other countries had passed similar laws.
Two days later, China published a set of geographic coordinates for 16 base points around Scarborough Shoal, the first time it has done so for territory also claimed by the Philippines.
