President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday the Philippine coast guard has observed Chinese barges at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, possibly indicating that Beijing is planning new construction that could ratchet up tensions.
Still, Duterte said he wouldn’t raise the territorial dispute at an Asian summit in laos next week that will be attended by several world leaders, including China. “The coast guard made some little trips near them and there are a lot of barges. ... What is the purpose of a bargeIJ” Duterte said in a speech in southern Panabo city in Davao del Norte province, adding that the intelligence report “was unsettling.”
Duterte said the barges were sighted in Bajo de Masinloc, the Filipino name for Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines that Chinese Government ships seized in 2012 following a standoff with Philippine vessels.