DND not sure if new Chinese vessel headed for shoal

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of National Defense (DND) sees no problem with a Chinese fisheries ship as long as it stays in international waters, its spokesman said Friday.

“We hope that China will not do actions that will derail the current diplomatic initiatives toward a peaceful resolution,” DND spokesman Paul Peter Galvez told reporters in a phone interview.

A Philippine coast guard ship has been facing off  with Chinese fisheries vessels at the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) since April  10.

Galvez said Chinese media reports only said the vessel was headed for the West Philippine Sea but did not specifically mention the disputed Scarborough Shoal as its destination.

“So as long as it stays in international waters we don’t see any problem there,” he said.

“When it goes within the exclusive economic zone, that’s a different story. That’s why for us we hope that they do not do any action that may affect the current diplomatic initiatives toward the peaceful resolution of the Scarborough Shoal,” Galvez said.

Correcting local news reporters, Galvez said that the Chinese state media had described the deployed ship as a fisheries vessel “so that is civilian in nature, [then] we have no problem with that.” With a report from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Philippine Daily Inquirer