December 30, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — A United States Navy ship was sighted around Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal yesterday morning while a China Coast Guard (CCG) ship was conducting patrol in the area, a maritime security expert said.
“While China patrols around Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the US ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious patrols nearby,” SeaLight director and retired US Air Force colonel Ray Powell wrote on X.
“As of 1:37 a.m., the USNS Victorious was located near the Luzon landmass but still outside the country’s 12-nautical-mile territorial sea during China’s ‘patrol’ ” previously reported by its state media CCTV, he added.
Beijing’s state media reported that the CCG conducted patrols around Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Friday to safeguard China’s territorial rights.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said the Chinese naval and air forces conducted combat readiness patrols near Panatag Shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc, in the South China Sea yesterday.
The patrols aim to “further strengthen the control of relevant sea and airspace, resolutely defend national sovereignty and security” in the South China Sea, the PLA Southern Theater Command said in a social media announcement.
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