Philippine coastguard claims the vessel has been ‘loitering’ near islands that have become a geopolitical battleground amid boundary talks.

A Chinese civilian research vessel has spent more than a week conducting operations in waters off the Philippines’ Batanes Islands, an area that has become a new geopolitical battleground as Beijing ramps up pressure against Manila-Tokyo delimitation efforts. Data recorded via the vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) for September, tracked by MarineTraffic, revealed that the Jia Hai Ke 7 research ship departed from Xiamen on China’s southeastern coast on September 19, arrived near…

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