PCG challenges China ships off Mindoro, Batanes

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has challenged a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel near Cabra Island in Occidental Mindoro and tracked a Chinese research ship off Batanes.

The BRP Teresa Magbanua and an aircraft were deployed on Sunday to drive away a Chinese ship 35 nautical miles northwest of Cabra Island, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela said.

Multiple radio challenges were issued by the PCG aircraft, but CCG-3303 did not respond, Tarriela said.

Three People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) warships near the island were shadowed by the PCG.

“The presence of CCG-3303 and PLA-N warships is likely connected to the Chinese naval shadowing of the ADMM-Plus experts’ working group on maritime security joint cooperative activity,” Tarriela said, referring to the activity of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus at Subic Bay.

In Itbayat, Batanes, the PCG yesterday spotted Chinese research vessel Jia Hai Ke 7. Its movement pattern indicated it was conducting marine scientific research, probably on subsea cables, Tarriela said.

Jia Hai Ke 7 used automatic identification system spoofing to hide its movements, he noted.

The vessel departed from Xiamen, Fujian on Sept. 21 and logged its location 20 hours later off the coast of Bindari in Papua New Guinea, which was over 2,000 nautical miles away, Tarriela said.

Canada’s Dark Vessel Detection verified Jia Hai Ke 7’s location in Itbayat, Tarriela said.

Batanes and the Luzon Strait have critical submarine cable corridors that link the country to Northeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific, the PCG said.

“A seabed-survey vessel hiding its position while holding station in this corridor raises serious concern over the security of the country’s undersea communications infrastructure and the potential military use of the data collected,” Tarriela said.

The PCG said it will “take all necessary measures” to challenge and drive away ships conducting unauthorized activities within the country’s maritime zone.

‘Source of tension’

The source of tension in the region is not the law-abiding defensive posture of the Philippines, but the continued illegal presence, coercive and aggressive conduct of China, the spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the WPS said yesterday.

The AFP stands behind Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and rejects the recent inflammatory statements of the Chinese embassy in Manila on the WPS and AFP support to the Sanjia steel plant law enforcement operation, retired Navy reservist Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said.

“These attempts to personalize, deflect and mischaracterize legitimate national security enforcement operations within our sovereign territory are parts of narrative distortion or foreign malign influence,” Trinidad said.

LGUs told to step up

Local government units should step up efforts to protect maritime resources and extend direct support to coastal communities impacted by developments in the WPS, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

At a multi-agency forum on Sept. 25, challenges faced by coastal municipalities were highlighted, particularly in Masinloc, Zambales, where China’s continued blockade of key fishing grounds disrupted local livelihoods.

Masinloc Mayor Hazel Lim said restrictions imposed by foreign vessels in Panatag Shoal have forced local fisherfolk to ground commercial fishing vessels worth millions of pesos.

Through the National Maritime Council, the government is rolling out targeted assistance programs to aid affected fishing towns, NMC spokesman Alexander Lopez said. — Pia Lee-Brago, Rainier Allan Ronda