"Monster" entered the forbidden zone: Could they start a war?

Jay Tarriela, a spokesperson for the PCG, wrote on X that they had been tracking the movements of the "monster, 165 meter vessel" by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) "using Canadian technology to detect suspicious vessels".

"The vessel departed from Hainan, China on July 1 and entered the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) the following day," Tarriela wrote.

The Philippine Coast Guard asked the 12,000-ton vessel to confirm its intentions and reminded the crew that it was in the exclusive economic zone, an area of ​​ocean "outside the national territorial sea, within which the coastal state has jurisdiction over living and non-living resources."

Tarriela wrote on Friday that the Chinese ship was anchored in Escoda Shoal "for more than two days" while a Philippine ship was nearby. The distance between them was "less than 730 meters". He later told a news forum that the Chinese ship's moves were intimidation.

"We will not back down or be intimidated," he added. China and the Philippines have frequent conflicts over an atoll located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, Business Insider reminds.

China claims sovereignty over the ridge and most of the South China Sea, but an international court ruled in 2016 that China's claims had no legal basis.

In 1999, the Philippine Navy deliberately ran aground on the Second Thomas Shoal to defend against Chinese territorial claims in the area. Since then, a detachment of Philippine Marines has been permanently stationed aboard the Sierra Madre to ensure a military presence there.

But the atoll remains what Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG) has called a "dangerous flashpoint" as Chinese ships continually try to thwart efforts to resupply the stranded Philippine ship.

Earlier this month, China's coast guard blocked a replenishment mission using "dangerous and deliberate use of water cannons, ramming and blocking maneuvers," according to a statement from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the US Naval Institute.

Officials from China and the Philippines met on Tuesday and said they aimed to "rebuild trust" to help better manage maritime disputes. But the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs stressed that it will be "relentless in protecting its interests and maintaining its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction" in the South China Sea.

The ICG noted in May that "relations between the two countries when it comes to maritime property have never been as volatile as they have been in the last seven months".