MANILA, Sept 15 (Askume) – A Philippine coast guard ship anchored at the disputed Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea will return to port after a five-month deployment, the Philippine Maritime Commission said on Sunday.
Since April, the coast guard ship Teresa Magbanua has been dispatched to monitor what Manila suspects are China’s small-scale reclamation activities in the area . Its presence has angered Beijing, making the shoal the latest point of confrontation in the disputed waters.
National Maritime Council Executive Secretary and Chairman Lucas Bersamin said: “After more than five months at sea, the BRP Teresa Magbanua overcame many difficulties to perform her duties and returned to her home port.
Bersamin said the return of Teresa Magbauna is to attend to the crew’s medical needs and to receive repairs.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately comment.
This follows high-level talks between Manila and Beijing in China last week , with the Philippines reiterating its position on the Sabena and China repeating its demand for the ship to be taken back .
The area, known as Jianbin Reef in China and Escoda Shoal in the Philippines, lies 150 kilometres (93 mi) west of the Philippine province of Palawan and entirely within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
After Manila and Beijing agreed on a resupply mission for a Philippine warship stranded on Second Thomas Shoal last month , both sides accused each other of deliberately ramming each other’s ships in a series of skirmishes near Sabina .
China claims large parts of the China Sea, which overlaps with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague invalidated China’s sweeping and historical claims, but Beijing refused to accept the ruling.
