The Chinese ship aged the island occupied by the Philippines in the Sea Sea Sea contested

Porerto Princesa, Philippines (AP) – A Chinese ship has failed in stormy weather in shallow waters off an island occupied by the Philippines in the Contested Southern China Sea, encouraging the Philippine forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials announced on Sunday.

When the Philippine forces evaluated that the Chinese fishing vessel seemed to have failed in the weaknesses east of the island of Thitu on Saturday due to the bad weather, the military staff and the Philippin Coast Guard was deployed to provide help, but then saw that the ship had been extracted, the regional spokesperson for the navy, Ellaine, Rose Collado.

No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among the crew members or if the ship was damaged, said Collado.

Confrontations have increased between Chinese and Philippins ships and naval ships in disputed waters in recent years.

“The vigilance of our troops is still there,” journalists the Colonel Xerxes Trinidad told journalists of the Philippines Armed Forces. But when they saw that a probable accident occurred, “we have tried to provide assistance as professionals” in accordance with international law to help ships in difficulty at sea.

“We still follow international law,” said Trinidad.

Philippin villagers living in a fishing village on Thitu, which they call the island of Pagasa, immediately informed the military guard and the Coastal Guard of the Philippines after seeing the Chinese ship lying in the weak at around 1.5 sea kilometers (2.7 kilometers) of their village, said deputy Albayda, a local Philippin, at the Associated Press.

“They worried because the Chinese were so close, but it was really the strong wind and the waves that failed the ship,” said Albayda, adding that other Chinese ships have moved the ship struck.

The struck ship resembled what the Philippine army had repeatedly said that Chinese militia ships, which had supported Chinese Coastal Guard and the Navy, blocking and harassing the Philippine Cories and military ships in the disputed waters, a busy conduit for world trade and trade.

The Thitu island houses a village of Filipino and Filipino forces and is the largest of the nine islands and islets occupied by the Philippines. It is around 26 kilometers (16 miles) from SUBU Reef, which China has transformed into an island base as well as six other sterile reefs to strengthen its claim to almost the whole Sea of ​​southern China.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in longtime territorial clashes, an Asian flash point that many fear putting China and the UNITED STATES in a major conflict.

The United States does not claim any pretension to the Southern China Sea, but have repeatedly warned that it was forced to defend the Philippines, its long-standing ally of the treaty, if the Filipino, ships and planes are subject to an armed attack, including in the Southern China Sea.