MANILA: Members of the Philippine and US Coast Guard spotted 2 Chinese vessels during a capability training exercise in a disputed area of the West Philippine Sea.
The PCG said 2 Chinese Coast Guard vessels were spotted near Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal during the training exercise of the USCG Cutter Bertholf and the BRP Batangas and BRP Kalanggaman.
The PCG and USCG conducted a rescue simulation and communication exercise as part of the capability training.
Scarborough, called by Filipinos as Panatag Shoal and by the Chinese as Huangyan Island, was the site of a 2012 standoff between the Philippines and China.
The standoff erupted when Manila sent its biggest warship to chase off Chinese poachers.
The Philippine government earlier said it will take “legal action” over China’s extraction of clams off Scarborough Shoal, which lies within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Filipino fishermen recently said that Chinese Coast Guard ships drove them away from the shoal as wooden ships that bore China’s flag harvested giant clams.
