TEN Chinese ships were monitored in the vicinity of the contested Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, during a maritime domain awareness flight yesterday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
In an online press briefing, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said five of them were Chinese Coast Guard vessels with bow numbers 5205, 5201, 5303, 3301, and 5203.
Four are Chinese maritime militia vessels while two of them are positioned inside the shoal.
The 10th vessel is a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warship with bow number 574 which Tarriela said was sighted some 27 nautical miles from the shoal.
Tarriela said the maritime domain awareness flight was conducted by an aircraft of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
He said a Chinese Navy helicopter was monitored some three miles away from the aircraft during the flight.
Tarriela said the BFAR aircraft was not harassed but received the usual radio challenges from the Chinese.
“We only monitored the deployment of (a) PLA Navy helicopter. We were not able to see the tail number. But surprisingly, it didn’t come close. It maintained a distance of three miles away from the position of the BFAR aircraft,” said Tarriela.
Last month, a PLA-Navy helicopter harassed a BFAR aircraft performing a similar operation above Scarborough Shoal. The helicopter came as close as three meters to the port side or left side and above the BFAR aircraft, posing a serious risk to the safety of the pilots and passengers of the aircraft, including PCG personnel and photojournalists.
Tarriela said the BFAR aircraft also monitored two PCG vessels, four BFAR vessels and 26 Filipino fishing boats some 30 nautical miles from the shoal during its flight yesterday.
The BFAR and PCG vessels distributed fuel subsidies to Filipino fishermen in the area.
Earlier yesterday, US maritime expert Ray Powell reported that BFAR and PCG were “intercepted” by Chinese vessels in the vicinity of the shoal.
Tarriela said BFAR and PCG vessels did not experience any harassment from the Chinese during the fuel subsidy distribution.
“The same thing, we did not experience harassment on the part of the Chinese Coast Guard. I think it’s primarily because it’s not that close to Bajo de Masinloc,” said Tarriela, referring to the location of the PCG, BFAR and Filipino fishing boats.
Tarriela said the Chinese installed a floating barrier at the mouth of the shoal yesterday.
“As what we have mentioned so many times already, this is one of their precautionary measures to make sure that the Filipino fishing boat cannot enter inside Bajo de Masinloc,” said Tarriela.
