Chinese swarm doubles around Pag-asa Island in a week — AFP

BFAR ship

The number of Chinese vessels swarming the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea has increased from 25 to 50 in a span of a week, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday.

Data from the AFP showed that 46 Chinese maritime militia ships, 2 People’s Liberation Army Navy ships and 2 China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were spotted around Pag-asa from Sept. 24 to 30.

The arrival of new vessels happened in the same week the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) ships conducted maritime patrols at the sandbars within the island’s 22-kilometer territorial sea.

On Sept. 26, a CCG vessel and some Chinese maritime militia ships surrounded BFAR ships as the latter were conducting patrols near Pag-asa. The following day, a CCG vessel with bow No. 21555 and two Chinese navy missile boats chased two BFAR vessels near Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon), a shoal some kilometers (60 nautical miles) west of Palawan.

5 warships at Escoda

Pag-asa lies 26 kilometers away from Zamora (Subi) Reef, which China has turned into a military base complete with a runway, lighthouses, communication facilities, hangars and multistory buildings.

According to the AFP, the number of Chinese warships across the entire West Philippine Sea also increased from 16 to 17 this week. Five of them, making up the single biggest cluster, were near Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, from where the Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua pulled out on Sept. 14.

The other warships were spotted at Ayungin (Second Thomas) and Panatag (Scarborough) Shoals, Parola, Likas, Lawak, and Panata Islands, and Rizal and Iroquois Reefs.

Aside from the two warships at Ayungin, 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels have swarmed around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre, which serves as a Philippine military outpost.

But the AFP said the total number of Chinese ships in the WPS decreased from the record-high of 251 last week to 178.

‘Closer and closer’

Also on Tuesday, former senator Leila De Lima noted with alarm how incidents of Chinese harassment of Philippine vessels had gotten “closer and closer to our territorial seas.”

De Lima was referring to reports on a Chinese helicopter had chasing and flying close to a BFAR boat near Bombay Shoal, which is about 55 nautical miles (101 kilometers) to the Palawan mainland; a Chinese vessels, including two navy missile ships, harassing two BFAR boats near Hasa-Hasa; and a Chinese chopper firing its high-intensity laser on a BFAR aircraft.

“By harassing our assets in Bombay and Hasa Hasa, China is now saying that Philippine government vessels and aircraft even have no business in the Spratly shoals nearest its own territory,” she said in a post on X.

“What is the response now of the DND (Department of National Defense) and the PN (Philippine Navy)?” she asked

For UP maritime expert Jay Batongbacal, China’s latest laser attack was “a hostile act against a lone unarmed Philippine government aircraft 60 (nautical miles) from PH shores” belied any claim that the Asian economic and military giant was “really a force for peace, stability, and progress in the world.”