Filipino forces on alert after China deploys coast guard ships

CLOSE TO DISPUTED SHOAL

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MANILA: China has deployed a coast guard ship and other vessels close to long-grounded Philippine warship in a disputed South China Sea shoal where Filipino forces have been put on alert, the Philippine military said Thursday.

At least 14 Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships, some with high-caliber weapons and backed up by a helicopter and an unmanned drone, were being monitored around the BRP Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas shoal.

The Chinese forces were spotted on Wednesday and were still in the vicinity on Thursday, Philippine military officials said. Two boatloads of Filipino forces were deployed from the Sierra Madre to prevent the Chinese from coming closer, they said.

Chinese officials did not immediately comment in reaction to the Philippine military statement. In the past, they have repeatedly demanded that the Philippines pull the BRP Sierra Madre from the shoal, where it was deliberately grounded by Manila in 1999 to serve as a territorial outpost.