More than 40 Chinese vessels were spotted swarming Thitu Island, a contested Philippine-occupied island, on March 4 as negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea set to resume this week.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said that China’s navy ship, coast guard vessel, and 42 suspected Chinese maritime militia vessels anchored near Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Island in the Philippines.
“These Chinese vessels are estimated to have a distance of approximately 4.5 to 8 nautical miles from Pag-asa Island, clearly inside the land feature’s 12 nautical mile territorial sea,” the PCG said in a statement.
It stated that the Chinese naval vessel and coast guard ship were spotted loitering in the waters surrounding the island, while the suspected militia vessels were anchored in the vicinity of Pag-asa Cay 3 and Pag-asa Cay 4….