Posted on 03/09/2017 11:37:27 AM PST by DFG
Chinese survey ships have been entering waters recognised by the United Nations as Philippine territory, Manila's defence secretary said Thursday, in a move he described as "very concerning".
Delfin Lorenzana said the ships were seen last year near Benham Rise -- a Philippine territory 250 kilometres (155 miles) off the east coast of the main island of Luzon -- as well as Reed Bank in the South China Sea, which is claimed by both Manila and Beijing.
"I have ordered the navy that if they see this service ship this year, to start to accost them and drive them away" from Benham Rise, Lorenzana said.
"The very concerning thing is they have several service ships plying this area, staying in one area sometimes for a month as if doing nothing. But we believe they are actually surveying the seabed," he told journalists.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Ping.
They have 2 or 3 old US Coast Guard cutters. Hamilton class. Everything else the Filipino navy has is smaller. They are pretty much at the mercy of the Chinese imo.
Duterte has it under control /s
Maybe someone will do a subsurface nuc-burst causing a wave to wipe out each of Chi-com Suzi's illegal islands. Then the USMC can go in and render aid to survivors and plant the US Flag.
Here come the Chinee. Hide the good silver.
1 SSN could basically wipe out every single Chinese atoll with a barrage of cruise missiles. So these bases are essentially pawns on the Pacific chessboard. Not very useful when a shooting war breaks out. But then this is about controlling resources and shippie lanes.
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