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Dumaguete City, PhilippinesThursday, May 24, 2012
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‘Escalating presence’
of China protested

MANILA — China has increased its presence in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc for Filipinos and Huangyan Dao for China in the South China Sea, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has charged.

Using information supplied by the Philippine Coast Guard, the DFA said that May 22 marked the worst escalation of Chinese presence, listing 76 utility boats, 16 fishing vessels and less than five government vessels.

It compared the presence in May 21, when at around 8 p.m., there were five Government vessels (CMS-71, CMS-84, FLEC-301, FLEC-303 and FLEC-310), and 16 Chinese fishing vessels, but only 56 utility boats.

The presence of so-called fishing vessels is a mystery since China has already announced a fishing ban for its fishermen up to August this year.

At a briefing, the DFA said “there is an increasing number and pattern” of such presence in the area.

Expressing “grave concern over these continuing actions by China that escalate tension in Bajo de Masinloc, the DFA said that on Tuesday it sent a Note Verbale to the Chinese Government through its embassy here. It is not known how the embassy reacted.

But earlier, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that any escalation of the dispute in the Scarborough Shoal, particularly one that would “change the nature of the issue,” would be opposed strongly.

In another press conference, MOFA spokesperson Hong Lei said there are about 20 such fishing boats in the area. “This number is roughly the same with that in the same period of the previous years,” headed.

He defended the fishing boat presence and said it “complies with the related Chinese laws and the fishing moratorium issued by the Chinese government.”

Calling the briefing a situationer report, the DFA said “it is regrettable that these actions occurred at a time when China has been articulating for a de-escalation of tensions and while the two sides have been discussin