"China continued to flex its maritime muscle by keeping 21 vessels and 76 other smaller boats at the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal while holding talks with Philippine officials to end the nearly seven-week tense standoff in the area, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.
Despite lingering tensions, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said Manila remains "committed to efforts of defusing tensions" at the shoal.
Based on a Philippine Coast Guard report as of 7:00 p.m. on Monday, the DFA said China has been keeping five Chinese government vessels at the shoal: CMS 71, CMS 84, FLEC 301, 303 and 310.
According to Hernandez, the vessels were accompanied by 16 Chinese fishing boats, 10 of which were inside the lagoon while six were outside.
There were 56 utility boats — 27 inside lagoon and 29 were outside, the DFA said.
Hernandez said China has been conducting fishing in the area and continued to harvest endangered species amid a fishing ban imposed by Beijing over the shoal on May 16.
“The increase in the number of China’s vessels in the area imperils marine biodiversity in the shoal and threatens the marine ecosystem in the whole of the WPS,” Hernandez told a press briefing.
He said the Chinese fishermen were said to have “unlawfully dredged the area and illegally harvested giant clams and corals.”"
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