A CHINESE Coast Guard ship blocked a Philippine Navy ship twice and “forcefully retrieved” metallic debris recovered and being towed near the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine last Sunday, according to the military’s West Command (Wescom).
“This information has been reported to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea for appropriate action,” said Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, Wescom commander.
At around 6:45 a.m., personnel from the Naval Station Emilio Liwanag (NSEL) based at Pag-asa Island noticed through a long-range camera an unidentified floating object drifting about 800 yards west off the island.
“They immediately proceeded to the area for ocular inspection. As observed by the team while enroute, the object was drifting towards Pag-asa Island’s Cay 1 sand bar due to strong waves and currents,” said Carlos, adding the team retrieved the object, tied it to their boat, and started towing it to their station.
“However, as the NSEL team was towing the floating object, they noticed that a China Coast Guard vessel with Bow Number 5203 was approaching their location and subsequently blocked their pre-plotted course twice,” said Carlos.
Carlos said the Chinese vessel deployed a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) that he said “forcefully retrieved the floating object by cutting the towing line attached to the NSEL rubber boat.”
Carlos said the Chinese RHIB then towed the object to their vessel.
“The NSEL team decided to return to Pag-asa Island. No member of the NSEL Team was injured during this incident,” said Carlos.
In Beijing, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry denied force had been used when asked about the incident.
Mao Ning told a regular briefing that the object was debris from a rocket’s payload fairing, or casing that protects the nose-cone of a spacecraft, launched by China.
“People from the Philippine side salvaged and towed the floating object first. After both sides had a friendly negotiation at the scene, the Philippines handed over the floating object to us,” Mao added.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it would conduct a thorough review of the incident and was awaiting detailed reports from maritime law enforcement agencies.
Wescom spokeswoman Maj. Cherryl Tindog said the object appeared to be similar to the metallic debris that Palawan fishermen recovered off Busuanga town in Palawan last November 7. The fishermen turned over the debris to the Navy.
A similar debris was found by fishermen off Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro a day earlier and was turned over to the Philippine Coast Guard.
The Philippine Space Agency said it was “highly likely” the debris found in Palawan and Occidental Mindoro were part of the Long March 5B rocket that China launched on October 31.
The rocket, which later crashed in an unknown location, was carrying the Mengtian laboratory module for the Tiangong space station — a research facility being built by China in orbit.
Pag-asa Island is the largest among the nine areas occupied by Filipino troops in the West Philippine Sea. It is about 280 nautical miles from Puerto Princesa City in Palawan which US Vice President Kamala Harris is due to visit today, Tuesday.
Harris is scheduled to visit BRP Teresa Magbanua, a Philippine Coast Guard multi-role response vessel, at the city’s pier. The PCG has said Harris will be given a briefing about the PCG’s “current maritime operations” in Palawan, including those in West Philippine Sea, after a tour of the vessel.
Tindog said Filipino and Chinese troops did not point guns against each other but added the two sides may have figured in a verbal exchange during the incident.
“We exercise maximum tolerance (in such situations). Since it’s an unidentified object and it’s not a matter of life and death, the (NSEL) team decided to go back to NSEL,” said Tindog.
A police report said the team arrived “safely” at their station at around 9:30 a.m.
Two hours later, “they were able to hear some repetitive sounds that they believed were coming from artillery guns/weapons on the Subi Reef,” the report said.
The Chinese-occupied reef is about 14 nautical miles from Pag-asa Island.
“They (Chinese) took it,” said Tindog, referring to the object that was being towed by Philippine Navy personnel. “They blocked our team; they cut the towing line and took the object.”
Asked if the military viewed the incident as a form of Chinese harassment, Tindog said it’s up to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea headed by National Secretary Adviser Clarita Carlos to make the assessment.
“The assessment of the incident and the actions to be taken, that’s up to the NTF (national task force). What we (military) are cleared to release (are details) of the incident, like a situationer,” said Tindog.
“As to the assessment, it’s up to the NTF to deal with it,” said Tindog, adding it was also up to the task force to decide if a diplomatic protest should be pursued against China for its actions.
China claims most of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which billions of dollars of goods pass each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
Thitu, known to Filipinos as Pagasa, is close to Subi Reef, one of seven artificial islands in the Spratlys on which China has installed surface-to-air missiles and other weapons.
Thitu, one of nine features the Philippines occupies in the Spratly archipelago, is the Southeast Asian country’s strategically most important outpost in the South China Sea. — With Reuters
