Philippines
National
Marcos doesn't want warships in WPS? Navy says unfazed by China's 'grey zone' warfare anyway
Marcos doesn't want warships in WPS? Navy says unfazed by China's 'grey zone' warfare anyway
The Philippine Navy (PN) expressed support for President Marcos Jr.’s decision not to send warships in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), stressing that they are not worried by China’s “grey zone” warfare anyway.
Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, PN spokesperson for WPS, said the warships that the navy deploys in the WPS only conduct patrol operations and to secure Filipino fishermen earning a living in their traditional fishing grounds, contrary to what People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been doing.
“We have to look at this at this from a macro perspective,” Trinidad said on Wednesday, Dec. 11. “First of all, we have always been there [in WPS]. Our defense posture there never wavered.”
But Trinidad said that the PN’s warships have not been used to intimidate other vessels, unlike People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels which confront and harass Philippine vessels.
“Just because they are instigating different ways that are out of the book, or what we call grey zone, which are actually illegal, coercive and deceptive actions, doesn’t mean that we will adjust or react to it,” Trinidad said.
“We don’t need to match their aggressiveness. But that doesn’t mean that our presence is not strong,” he added.
Marcos said on Tuesday, Dec. 10, that he was not keen on deploying warships in the WPS since the country is "not at war."
“Again, it (sending of warships) will be provocative and will be seen as an escalation. We don’t do that. The Philippines does not escalate tensions. Quite the opposite, the Philippines always tries to bring down the level of tension,” the Commander-in-Chief explained.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) previously stated that China has been recently using its warships to harass Philippine vessels in the WPS. It said the decision whether or not to deploy PN warships in the contested areas to counter this lies on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and President Marcos Jr.
Last Dec. 4, PLA-Navy vessels with bow numbers “500” and “571” tailed Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) civilian vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal).
The PCG confirmed that it was the first time they documented a Chinese navy warship harassing its vessels.
On the same day, China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels also shot water cannon and sideswiped PCG and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to disrupt a routine patrol mission.
On Dec. 2, a suspected Chinese vessel also pointed a laser towards two PCG vessels in Hasa-Hasa (Half-Moon) Shoal while Chinese navy helicopters hovered over Filipino fishermen in Rozul Reef on Nov. 30.
According to Trinidad, these are all part of the PRC’s grey zone tactic, which refers to actions that fall between the categories of peace and war, typically employed by states or non-state actors to achieve political, military, or strategic objectives without triggering a full-scale conflict.
Still, he insisted that the PRC “is not in control of the West Philippine Sea.”
“That’s what what they want to think but they are not in control of the West Philippine Sea. We are freely performing our mandate of patrolling the seas and the air, of fighting for our sovereignty, of showing the flag,” Trinidad said.
The admiral assured the public that the national government has been utilizing other instruments of power in asserting the country’s rights in the WPS aside from the military.
“The different instruments of national power include diplomacy, political, informational, military, and economic. So all of these instruments of national power, the whole-of-government and even whole-of-society approach must be felt by the people,” he said.