What is China’s ‘monster’ coast guard ship and why is the Philippines spooked by it?

CNN —

China anchored one of its two “monster” coast guard ships inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) last week in what a Philippine official called an act of “intimidation” in the ongoing territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said the China Coast Guard vessel CCG-5901 anchored near Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of the Philippine island of Palawan on July 3, well within Manila’s 230-mile EEZ.

Displacing 12,000 tons and with a length of 541 feet, CCG-5901 is three times the size of the United States Coast Guard’s main patrol vessels, the National Security Cutters — leading many observers to refer to the Chinese vessel as “The Monster.”

While at Sabina Shoal, the Chinese ship anchored within 800 yards of one of the Philippine Coast Guard’s newest and biggest ships previously deployed to the area, Tarriela said in a post on X.

CCG-5901 is more than five times the size of the Philippine ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua.

“It’s an intimidation on the part of the China Coast Guard,” Tarriela said during a forum on Saturday, according to a Reuters report.

But he said the Philippines would not back down on its South China Sea claims.

“We’re not going to pull out, and we’re not going to be intimidated,” Tarriela added.

CNN has asked Chinese authorities for comment on the Philippine claims.

China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. Multiple governments, including Manila, hold competing claims.

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