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Another confrontation over their conflicting territorial claims of an oil-rich shoal in the South China Sea that Manila has called Panatag (calm) but long named Huangyan by Beijing, and internationally as Scarborough, has once more brought to the fore a medium-rare irritant in their familial and centuries-old connections.
Philippine claims place its Scarborough territory at 124 nautical miles from the nearest base point in Zambales Province, which, it said, is within the country's 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf.
According to the Philippines, its recently recently-purchased US patrol cutter BRP del Pilar sailed from its home port in Palawan province into the northern Luzon shoal of Panatag after monitoring the presence there of eight Chinese fishing vessels and two marine surveillance ships on April 8.
They claimed the Philippine vessel went to the area in the course of its enforcement of the Philippine Fisheries Code and marine environment protection laws. Del Pilar was deployed to the area to assert Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights as well as safeguard the environment of the shoal, they said.
On Tuesday morning, the Del Pilar's boarding team inspected the Chinese fishing vessels and collected photos and other evidence of the Chinese catch. Philippine authorities reported that large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and...