As ‘Monster’ leaves, new Chinese ship takes its place off Zambales

INCURSION This Philippine Coast Guard photo taken on Saturday shows China Coast Guard Vessel 5901, also known as “The Monster,” in the coastal waters of Zambales province before it began to move away that evening. —PCG

“The Monster,” China’s biggest coast guard ship, has moved away from Zambales province although a “replacement vessel” has taken its place, Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said on Wednesday.

According to Tarriela, China Coast Guard (CCG) 5901 was approximately 167 kilometers off the coastline of Zambales as of Wednesday afternoon. It first entered the country’s exclusive economic zone on Jan. 1 and was spotted 100 km (54 nautical miles) from Capones Island.

The monster ship was immediately replaced by CCG 3103, which left Guandong province on Jan. 7. “It went directly straight to the location of CCG 5901,” Tarriela said, adding that as of 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the ship was about 111 km off Zambales.

It appeared to be “the replacement vessel to sustain their presence in that area,” he said.

Tarriela reported that an islander aircraft was sent to conduct aerial surveillance off Zambales and in the vicinity of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

The BRP Teresa Magbanua, one of the PCG’s biggest and most modern vessels, was sent to the area to replace the BRP Cabra, which was earlier deployed to shadow and monitor the 12,000-ton monster ship.

Teresa Magbanua will continue to monitor “the illegal and unlawful presence of the Chinese Coast Guard vessels,” Tarriela said.

Immediate replacement

“Initially we thought that it was leaving,” he said, referring to the huge Chinese ship, “just to realize that there is a replacement vessel.”

But he noted that the monster ship could stay at sea for 45 days without being replenished. “That is a possibility, it can go back anytime,” he said.

Despite this, Tarriela said that “we are not going to be threatened and would not carry out actions that would escalate the tensions.”

According to him, the only objective of the Chinese government in deploying the monster ship is “to break the confidence of the Filipino fishermen.”

“But one thing here is clear, whether it is a monster ship or a smaller vessel, they are still violating the international law, they are still disregarding Unclos, and they are still violating our sovereign rights,” he said, referring to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The PCG leadership, Tarriela stressed, fully supports the President’s stance to not surrender “a square inch of our territory to any foreign power.”