The Philippines said it was sending a vessel to Sabina Shoal to replace a coast guard ship that returned to port on Sunday after a five-month deployment at the contested feature in the South China Sea, in a swap that would likely irk China.
Beijing had demanded the Philippines withdraw the 97-metre (318-foot) coast guard vessel Teresa Magbanua it claimed was “illegally stranded” at the atoll, which it asserts it owns as part of its broader claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.
