Manila: The Philippines sent a diplomatic protest to China and complained of preventing a Philippine warship from arresting fishermen on eight Chinese fishing vessels that were caught by the Philippine Navy of illegally poaching on corals and whales near a shoal within Philippine territory on the South China Sea.

The Philippines has sovereign rights over areas of the South China Sea within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone from its coast, based on the United Nations Conference of the Law of the Sea (Unclos), an international law on contested areas, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario said when he handed the diplomatic protest to his counterpart Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing, at the Manila office of the foreign affairs department.

The two held a meeting earlier, on the evening of April 10 after China sent on Tuesday morning two Chinese surveillance vessels that blocked Philippines’ warship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, that sent out a team to board eight Chinese fishing boats that were docked at the Scarborough Shoal, 200 kilometres west of Subic Bay in central Luzon.

The Scarborough Shoal is alternately called Panatag Island in the Philippines and Huangyan Island in China.

At the earlier stage of the standoff, prior to the Philippines’ diplomatic protest, the Chinese Embassy said in a statement that “urged the Philippine side to stop immediately their illegal activities and leave this area”.

Reiterating its historical claim, China said that “Huangyan Island is an integral part of the Chinese territory and the waters around it is the traditional fishing area for the Chinese fishermen”.

“Ever since the ancient times, numerous documents on the Chinese history have put down definitely in writing that Huangyan Island belongs to Chinese territory,” China argued.

Narrating what happened, the department of foreign affairs (DFA) said, a Philippine Navy surveillance plane found eight Chinese fishing boats docked at the Scarborough Shoal on April 8.

BRP Gregorio del Pilar sent a boarding team that inspected and took photos of the catch of the eight Chinese fishing vessels. “The inspection team reported that large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and live sharks were found inside the compartments of the first fishing vessel that was boarded by the Philippine Navy team,” DFA recalled.

During the inspection, two Chinese maritime surveillance ships identified as Zhonggou Haijian 75 and Zhonggou Haijian 84 managed to sail to the mouth of the (Scarborough) shoal, placing themselves between (Philippines’) PF-15 and the eight Chinese fishing vessels, thus preventing the arrest of the Chinese fishermen, the DFA said.

The standoff further raised tension on the South China Sea which is claimed wholly by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and in parts by Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

In 2012, the Philippines and Vietnam raised to the United Nations complaints against China’s flexing of might on the contested area.

The Philippines blamed China for shooting at Filipino fishermen and harassing the country’s oil exploration vessel, which is involved in an offshore oil project in the contested area.

The Spratly Archipelago off the South China Sea is also part of the contentious claim in the area.