2 Chinese vessels seen off Pangasinan
Two Chinese coast guard vessels were spotted off Pangasinan province, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Sunday, while Beijing’s so-called “monster ship” continued to linger near Zambales province for about a month now.
The PCG deployed an aircraft and two 44-meter ships, the BRP Cabra (MRRV-4409) and the BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410), to Bolinao, Pangasinan, after it sighted China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels with bow numbers 3301 and 3104 some 65 kilometers (34 nautical miles) from the shore through Canada’s satellite tracking system, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a statement.
The deployment of the PCG vessels was meant to “reinforce the Philippine government’s position against the normalization of illegal patrols by the People’s Republic of China within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ),” he said.
Within EEZ
However, the radio challenges issued by the PCG were ignored by the Chinese ships, Tarriela noted.
The 12,000-ton CCG-5901, or the “monster ship,” replaced CCG-3304 operating off Zambales on Saturday.
Although it was pushed further away by the PCG’s BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) 213 km (115 nautical miles) from the coastline, it remained within the Philippines’ EEZ.
“The crew aboard BRP Teresa Magbanua demonstrated remarkable courage and resolve, remaining undeterred by the presence of the massive CCG-5901,” Tarriela said in a separate statement.
China’s goal
“The PCG has consistently asserted that the actions of the [CCG] are illegal and in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), to which China is a signatory,” he pointed out.
The massive ship was first monitored off Capones Island in the waters of Zambales on Jan. 4 after patrolling Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and has stayed within that area since.
Smaller Chinese vessels have also tried to move closer to the coast of the Philippines since then.
Tarriela earlier said China’s goal was to normalize such deployments, which would enable them “to alter the existing status quo” if these actions go unchallenged.
Mindoro, Lawak
“What we’re doing there is, hour-by-hour and day-to-day, we’re challenging the illegal presence of the Chinese coast guard for the international community to know that we’re not going to allow China to normalize the illegal deployment,” he stressed.
At least nine Chinese coast guard vessels were spotted within the Philippines’ EEZ during the weekend, American maritime security expert Ray Powell said on Saturday.
CCG 3104 and 3301 were tracked near Cabra Island off Occidental Mindoro before heading to Pangasinan, while CCG 5202 passed within 6.5 km (3.5 nautical miles) of Philippine-occupied Lawak (Nanshan) Island, he said.
Chinese vessels have been keeping a constant presence in the West Philippine Sea—part of the South China Sea being claimed by the Philippines— to enforce Beijing’s excessive maritime and territorial claims.
An international arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s historical claims have no basis under international law, a decision Beijing has refused to recognize.
