Chinese Frigate runs aground very near Palawan

[balipseyev]

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Embarrassment as Chinese frigate runs aground

A Chinese warship has run aground while patrolling contested waters adjacent to the Philippines in the South China Sea.

The frigate pinned itself to a reef last night at Half Moon Shoal, on the south-eastern edge of the Spratly Islands, and remains "thoroughly stuck", according to Western diplomatic sources shortly after midday local time, or 2pm AEST.
Salvage operations could be diplomatically challenging, given the vessel appears to have run aground within 200 kilometres of the Philippines coast, which is squarely within what Manila claims to be its Exclusive Economic Zone.
The stricken People's Liberation Army Navy vessel, believed to be No. 560, a Jianghu-class frigate, has in the past been involved in aggressively discouraging Filipino fishing boats from the area.

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The accident could not have come at a more embarrassing moment for the Chinese leadership, who have been pressing territorial claims and flexing the country's muscle ahead of a leadership transition later this year.

Spratly Islands | Chinese navy

Duol ra kaayo sa Palawan gyud...



Mods please merge kung naa na ni...

[kemalzeppy]

Question: why would they reach so close to palawan without being detected by the navy or coast guard?

[balipseyev]

More news pa...

PAF plane spots Chinese frigate stuck on shoal

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—A Philippine Air Force plane spotted Saturday afternoon the Chinese war frigate that ran aground on a coral reef at Half Moon Shoal in the Spratlys.

A report made by the pilot of the PAF Islander plane, the distressed ship was being rescued by around five Chinese vessels, according to a source at the AFP Western Command.

A Philippine Navy vessel was closing in on the area and ready to provide assistance but was staying at a safe distance while awaiting orders from the AFP, added the source.

Regional military spokesman Colonel Neil Anthony Estrella confirmed the presence of the stranded Chinese naval frigate in the disputed waters.

“During the aerial reconnaissance mission, they were able to confirm, based on photographs, that there is indeed a ship with bow number 560 aground at Half Moon Shoal,” he told Agence France-Presse.

He said five more vessels and a number of smaller boats were assisting the grounded ship.

A navy ship and a coast guard vessel had been dispatched to the area to monitor the Chinese operations, he added.

He stressed that the shoal was just 60 nautical miles from the western Philippine island of Palawan, well within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, as recognised by international law.

Foreign Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement, “we need to find out what really happened with the Chinese frigate in our territory”.

He reiterated that the Philippines would provide assistance to move the ship if China requested it.

The Chinese government earlier confirmed that the ship was on “routine patrol” when it became stranded near Half Moon Shoal in the Spratly Islands on Wednesday evening.

PAF plane spots Chinese frigate stuck on shoal | Inquirer Global Nation

[elvandesantos]

provide assistance better assistance we can offer is to scrap that damn ship!!!

[wak_wak]

Dakpon ni sila oi.. Padala tanan navy and coast guard ship didto.. Sakpan na jud sila kung unsa sila ka duol sa atua, mag suroy na kalma kaau, tagam.. Kung sa ato jud ni territory then unsa pa ato gihuwat..

[crossramz]

I wonder how will the chinese foreign ministry explain this incident.

[NapoleonBlownapart]

Duola nalang sa mga animal oi.. Di jud ni dapat ibaliwala sa bogyerno.. sayon-sayon ra man silag paduol sa atong territoryo.. Even if the navy has spotted it wala man siguro ni sila mabuhat against it kay mosamot kadako ang problema.. nangita man nig bikil ang china..


Chinese warship getting that close in our territory without any intervention speaks of our AFPs nonability.. too bad..

[NapoleonBlownapart]

basin tinuyo pud ni sa China. If this happened in Vietnam basin gibombahan na ning barkoha or gidakop na ning mga insika.. Maybe China thinks the Philippines would do something like that and declare war. Hehe.. conspiracy theory lang..

[bleedingboi]

A Bully choking on his own soda drink taken from his bullied nerd.

Asa mga Badjao? Free scrap metal!!!!!

[NapoleonBlownapart]

A Bully choking on his own soda drink taken from his bullied nerd.

Asa mga Badjao? Free scrap metal!!!!!

di na na maduol.. there are other Chinese ships in the area trying to recover it and the Philippines, in its usual friendly neighbor gesture, is offering help for the recovery of the ship.. WTH.. Are we just going to let them go after they trespass our territory? What will happen to our claim of Scarborough when China is "patrolling" way beyond the shoal?