Ahead of summit, Philippines shows images of Chinese boats at disputed shoal

VIENTIANE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The Philippines' defence ministry released pictures on Wednesday showing what it said were Chinese boats near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, just hours before Southeast Asian nations were due to meet China's premier at a summit in Laos. Officials say Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plans to ask Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the summit in the Laotian capital on Wednesday whether the vessels were on another island-making mission on the Scarborough Shoal. If the Chinese government confirms the suspicion, the Philippines would lodge an official protest, according to Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. Duterte has taken a more reconciliatory track to rebuild relations with the Asian economic powerhouse and has said he would not raise the long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea in an adversarial manner that might upset the Chinese government. Duterte’s government released surveillance photos of the Chinese ships and barges along with a diagram showing the vessels’ exact locations at the Scarborough Shoal, which the Chinese coast guard seized after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels in 2012. Hours after the Philippines released the pictures, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, met with Li and his aides. China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts or all of the resource-rich South China Sea, making it a hotspot of regional tension. The dispute has become more significant since the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled on July 12 that no one country had sovereign rights over activity in the Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground for Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese.
Chinese vessels are seen positioned near the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the coast of the Philippines.