Hundreds of Chinese vessels that has been circling Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea are part of intimidation tactics meant to give Beijing control of the strategic waterway, an analyst warned Sunday. The Philippine military on Friday expressed alarm the presence of some 600 Chinese vessels near the sandbar. "They have been a critical part of Chinese intimidation around the Senkaku Islands [in the East China Sea], and in the South China Sea," said retired US Navy captain Carl Schuster, former director of the US Pacific Command's joint intelligence center.

Chinese boats off Pag-asa 'meant to take control of West PH Sea'. (2019, April 1). Panay News, pp. 7, 14.