Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs The Philippines is monitoring the largest coast guard ship in the world, a 541-foot China Coast Guard vessel 5901 nicknamed the “Monster,” which has been occupying a contested South China Sea feature in what analysts say is a show of force to back Beijing’s sweeping claims.Speaking to the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, a Philippine Navy spokesperson, said that the “Monster” had been dispatched in response to a Philippine Coast Guard ship’s longer-than-usual presence near the shoal.The Spratly Islands’ Sabina Shoal is approximately 700 miles from the nearest Chinese shores and fewer than 150 miles from the Philippine province of Palawan, well within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ). International maritime law grants states exclusive rights to natural resources within their EEZs.
The world’s largest Coast Guard ship, nicknamed the “Monster,” sails at sea. The vessel has for over a month been occupying waters off Sabina Shoal, which lies within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
The world’s largest Coast Guard ship, nicknamed the “Monster,” sails at sea. The vessel has for over a month been occupying waters off Sabina Shoal, which lies within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
China Coast Guard
Beijing’s claims over the South China Sea overlap with those of neighboring countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Taiwan.The Philippine ship had been monitoring the unusual pileup of crushed corals, Trinidad said. He added that the two vessels had not entered into a standoff. “So, they’re watching them; they are watching us,” he said.The Philippine Navy and Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to written requests from Newsweek for comment.Ray Powell, director of the Stanford University-affiliated SeaLight initiative, told Newsweek that ship tracking data showed the “Monster” had been at Sabina Shoal since July 3. “Though it went ‘dark’ on its automatic information system (AIS) broadcasts on 31 July, overhead imagery has shown it still there as a visible symbol of China’s sovereignty claim over the feature,” Powell added.The U.N. has mandated vessels to broadcast their positions continuously via AIS to ensure shipping safety.Powell predicted the ship would leave for China soon because the country’s Coast Guard vessels typically deploy for a month and a half at a time. “If so, it will likely be replaced by another large vessel, though of course not as big as the monster since it is the largest in the world,” Powell said.
In June, the ship also entered the EEZs of two other South China Sea claimants, Malaysia and Brunei. This was according to the Philippine Coast Guard, which said it had detected the “Monster’s” movements with dark vessel detection technology shared by Canada.Pushback from the U.S. ally under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has resulted in increasingly forceful responses from China, with a clash last month leaving several Philippine troops injured, raising the specter of Manila’s Mutual Defense Treaty with the U.S.Beijing has maintained that it is Manila stirring up trouble in the region, at the behest of its U.S. ally, as part of efforts by Washington to contain China.”China’s claims regarding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea are consistent with international law and universal practice,” Mao Ning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told the press on Tuesday. “It is the Philippines, not China, that is creating problems in the South China Sea.”
