The foreign fishing boats were deep in Philippine waters near a speck of coral reef known as Sabina Shoal. They bore no official markings, but their blue hulls of reinforced steel — used to ram other vessels — were the telltale signs of Chinese maritime militia. They had not come to fish, but to stake a claim to the sea.
A white patrol ship approached. A woman’s voice lifted through the crackle of a radio: “This is Philippine coast guard. You are within Philippine exclusive economic zone. You are requested to provide the following: name of vessel, intention, last and next port of call.”
The April 27 incident, which was captured on video, made public the Philippines’ newest ploy: dispatching an all-female unit of coast guard radio operators to counter Chinese aggression in the hotly contested South China Sea. China’s actions in the region, including violating the territorial waters of other nations and building military installations on man-made islands, have become a dangerous tinderbox for Beijing and Washington.
Dubbed the Angels of the Sea, the group of 81 women will soon patrol the country’s so-called exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles off the Philippine shoreline in an area speckled with rocks and reefs claimed by China. The women were recruited under the belief they’d be better suited for repelling unwelcome foreign vessels and de-escalating a potential geopolitical crisis because their voices would remind opposing crews of their “wives or mothers,” officials have said.
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https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-09-29/philippines-angels-of-the-sea