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.
