Has China Started Patrolling the Nine Dash Line?

A file image of Philippine Coast Guard personnel monitoring a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in the South China Sea in August. Photo: Jam Sta Rosa / AFP.

Amid complaints from Philippine authorities that a large Chinese Coast Guard vessel has repeatedly entered their exclusive economic zone (EEZ,) rumors are circulating that Chinese forces may have started patrolling parts of the so-called Nine Dash Line. China uses the line to demarcate what it claims as its historical territory in the South China Sea. The line runs through the EEZs of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The Philippine Coast Guard said the recent movements of the CCG 5901 (aka “the Monster”) – at 12,000 tons, the largest armed law enforcement vessel in the world – close to the Philippine coast overlap with a section of the Nine Dash Line, which Manila has successfully challenged in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Chinese authorities have not commented on the rumors, but have called the patrols “fully justified.”

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by CGSP Staff

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