FOURTEEN Chinese Coast Guard and fishing vessels or maritime militia vessels were monitored yesterday morning near five of nine features occupied by Filipino troops in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea, the military reported.
In a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said one Chinese Coast Guard and four Chinese fishing vessels were seen at the vicinity of Pag-asa Island.
Pag-asa Island, about 280 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa City, is the largest among the Philippine-occupied features in the West Philippine Sea. It is the seat of government of Palawan’s Kalayaan town.
Trinidad said a Chinese Coast Guard vessel was monitored near Ayungin Shoal, where the Chinese have harassed Philippine several military resupply missions. The last resupply mission on February 2 was not harassed by the Chinese who merely observed the activity.
Five other vessels were seen at Panata Island, two Kota Island, and one at Parola Island, he said.
Trinidad said there was no Chinese presence at the four other Philippine-held features — Patag, Likas and Lawak islands and Rizal Reef.
“This is the monitoring by our Navy capability as of this (Tuesday) morning,” he said referring to the Chinese presence near Philippine-occupied features in the WPS.
‘NORMALCY’
Trinidad said “normalcy” in the West Philippine Sea is not dictated by the number of Chinese vessels in the area.
“It’s not alarming if the numbers will be high… What is alarming are the actions, not the number of ships or vessels,” said Trinidad.
On the peaceful conduct of the resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal last February 2, Trinidad declined to speculate as to why the Chinese did not interfere with the mission.
But he said, “The broad direction of China is to control the South China Sea. A simple change in actions or behavior does not indicate a change in their character.”
Trinidad also said two Chinese Navy ships shadowed during last Friday’s maritime cooperative activity (MCA) conducted by a Philippine Navy ship and a US Navy ship in the West Philippine Sea, clarifying his earlier statement that only one Chinese Navy ship was involved in the shadowing.
Trinidad said the Chinese did not interfere with the MCA, just like in the MCAs conducted in November and last month.
“I could not speculate why they did not interfere but generally our MCAs or other activities conducted with our like-minded navies, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy just monitors the activity but they do not do any illegal maneuvers,” he said.
Trinidad said the Philippines and the US are planning to hold more MCAs but did not provide details.
He said MCAs include the conduct of ship-to-ship maneuvers, communications, and air operations exercises.