DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday said a Chinese ship that intruded into the country’s waters in January shadowed a military exercise involving Filipino and American troops.
Lorenzana said government cannot allow such an act by China, more so in the country’s internal waters.
“Itong dinaanan nung barko ng Tsina ay hindi na ito international waters, it is an internal water, it is the water between Palawan at saka yung Mindanao. (The area where the Chinese ship passed is not international waters, it’s internal waters, it is the waters between Palawan and Mindanao),” he said after a wreath-laying ceremony at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
Lorenzana said only ships on innocent passage are authorized to pass that area.
On March 14, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it has summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian over the incursion of Chinese Navy’s electronic reconnaissance ship from January 29 to February 1.
The DFA said ship entered Sulu and reached the waters of Palawan’s Cuyo Group of Islands and Apo Island in Mindoro.
It also said a Navy ship, BRP Antonio Luna, challenged the Chinese ship which, the DFA said, claimed to be exercising innocent passage. This was disputed by the DFA, noting that the ship did not follow the track that can be considered continuous and expeditious and it lingered in the Sulu Sea for three days. It said the Chinese ship continued its activities despite repeated instructions by BRP Antonio Luna to immediately leave Philippine waters.
Lorenzana said, “So ang ginawa nitong barko na ito ay — meron kasi tayong exercise na nangyayari with the US force, US Navy — ay minamanmanan niya. (What the ship did, since we have an ongoing exercise with the US force, US Navy, was shadow it),” he said, referring to a Philippine-US military exercise conducted in Palawan from January 28 to January 31.
“The exact military term is shadowing. In intel, that is following and watching,” Lorenzana said later in a message.
Lorenzana said the government “protested” the act, noting the government cannot allow the Chinese to shadow the military within the country’s territorial waters.
Asked how disturbing the act of the Chinese was, Lorenzana said: “Not really disturbing kasi wala namang ginawang masama (because it did not do anything bad), except that it stayed in the area for several days, shadowing the exercise which contradicts the Chinese claim of innocent passage.”
“Kung (If that’s) innocent passage, it will not take half a day to traverse Balabac Strait to northern Palawan,” Lorenzana said.
The Balabac Strait connects South China Sea with the Sulu Sea.
On March 2, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel made dangerous maneuvers at the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippines Sea in the South China Sea, increasing the risk of a collision with a Philippine Coast Guard vessel conducting routine patrol.
The Coast Guard revealed the incident on March 27. Two days later, National Security Adviser and National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea chairman Hermogenes Esperon Jr said the DFA has lodged a diplomatic protest with China in connection with the incident.
