Philippine Coast Guard ship in standoff with China returns to port

Manila says new vessel will ‘immediately take over’ after the BRP Teresa Magbanua left disputed area in South China Sea.

A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel that spent months anchored at a disputed reef in the South China Sea has left the area, but a new vessel is being deployed “immediately” to replace it, Philippine officials announced, in a move that is likely to irk China.

BRP Teresa Magbanua had been anchored inside Sabina Shoal since April to assert the Philippine claims to the area within its exclusive economic zone, and to prevent China from seizing it.

“After more than five months at sea, where she carried out her sentinel duties against overwhelming odds, BRP Teresa Magbanua is now sailing back to her homeport with her mission accomplished,” Lucas Bersamin, executive secretary and chairman of the National Maritime Council, said in a statement on Sunday.

Bersamin said the vessel’s return was necessary to the medical needs of its crew and to undergo repairs.

NMC spokesperson Alexander Lopez later said “another will immediately take over”, citing a PCG order.

“Definitely, we will keep our presence there,” Lopez added, without sharing which vessel would take over.

‘Indisputable sovereignty’

In a brief statement, China Coast Guard (CCG) spokesperson Liu Dejun said Beijing “has indisputable sovereignty over … Xianbin Jiao and its adjacent waters”, using the Chinese name for Sabina Shoal.

China asserts sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, including areas claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei. A 2016 international tribunal ruling said Beijing’s assertion has no legal basis.

Philippine and Chinese vessels have collided at least three times recently near Sabina Shoal, located 140km (86 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and 1,200km (746 miles) from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan Island.

The Teresa Magbanua’s bridge wing and freeboard were damaged in one of the collisions in August.

In a statement posted on X, PCG spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said the “structural damage to the ship”, which he blamed on the “deliberate ramming by the China Coast Guard”, further complicated the vessel’s integrity.

Last month, Chinese vessels blocked a resupply mission for the Filipino sailors on board the ship, leaving them running critically low on food and other provisions.

Images published by the GMA TV network showed the vessel crew members being transported in stretchers due to reported dehydration resulting from the blockade.

Earlier this week, officials from the Philippines and China held high-level talks on their maritime issues, wherein Beijing reiterated its demand for the withdrawal of the Philippine vessel.

The latest situation has echoes of 2012, when Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal, another strategic feature about 240km (149 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon.

Then, Manila pulled its ships back after a tense two-month maritime standoff.

In recent years, the Philippines has accused China of repeated harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies