Manila, April 23 -- The selection of the decommissioned oil tanker BRP Lake Caliraya for a sinking exercise as part of this year's Balikatan exercises between Filipino and American soldiers is coincidental, a ranking official of the Philippine Navy (PN) said Tuesday.

PN spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad made the remark after China called the act provocative.

In an April 20 editorial, China's state-run English newspaper Global Times claimed that the BRP Lake Caliraya was built in a Chinese shipyard for the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), which it called "a witness to previous cooperation between China and the Philippines."

The PNOC donated the BRP Lake Caliraya, formerly known as M/T Lapulap...