On 20 March, the Philippine government’s National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea reported that more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels, with suspected members of China’s maritime militia on board, had congregated around Juan Felipe Reef (aka Whitsun Reef) and appeared to be neither fishing nor needing to seek shelter (as claimed by the Chinese Embassy on 22 March) from the non-inclement weather. By the end of the month, the Task Force reported that the fleet of Chinese ships had increased to 258, including some Chinese naval vessels, and that this unwelcome and uninvited foreign flotilla had spread to waters around other land features in the West Philippine Sea, the area of the Philippine exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
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