MANILA - A Chinese coast guard vessel shadowed the BRP Malapascua of the Philippine Coast Guard while it was doing maritime patrol in Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea last week, the PCG said Thursday.

In a Facebook post, the PCG said BRP Malapascua conducted maritime patrol in the West Philippine Sea from March 16 to 21, during which it spotted several foreign-flagged vessels, including China Coast Guard vessels, a People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) Type 056A Jiangdao II Class Missile Corvette, and some Vietnamese vessels.

At least 20 Chinese and Vietnamese vessels were spotted in Sabina Shoal, while the PLAN vessel was spotted near Pag-asa Island.

The PCG said BRP Malapascua issued multiple radio challenges to the foreign vessels in Sabina Shoal, but received no response.

The PLAN vessel, on the other hand, responded to the multiple radio challenges issued by BRP Malapascua.

On March 21, China Coast Guard vessel 5201 shadowed BRP Malapascua as it was patrolling Ayungin Shoal.

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“The PCG vessel reported that during its encounter with CCGV 5201 at Ayungin Shoal, the former came as close as 1.2 NM from the grounded Philippine Navy vessel, BRP Sierra Madre,” the PCG said.

The incident has been reported to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), the PCG said.

“The PCG is working in conjunction with the Western Command (WESCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Area Task Force-West (ATF-WEST) to monitor and respond to the presence of foreign vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS),” it said.

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China is disregarding a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated the basis of its claims over almost the entire South China Sea, within which is the West Philippine Sea.

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