After several days of being observed by navy ships and aircraft, Chinese fishing boats near Scarborough Shoal were boarded, their catch confiscated, and ordered to leave the area. The Chinese embassy protested throughout, as China claims Scarborough Shoal (270 kilometers from Subic Bay.) There is an ongoing, unresolved, dispute between all the nations bordering the South China Sea over who owns small islands. Ownership of such bits of land give the owner possession of any oil and other natural resources in the vicinity.