China should pull out its “monster” ship from the coast of Zambales because its presence is considered “illegal” and “inconsistent” with the principles of freedom of navigation and innocent passage, ranking officials said Tuesday, Jan. 14.
National Security Council (NSC) Asst. Director-General Jonathan Malaya said in a press briefing by the National Task Force on West Philippine Sea (WPS) that China’s continuous deployment of China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel “5901” or the 12,000-ton monster ship to the coast of Zambales is meant to intimidate the fishermen from accessing their traditional fishing grounds, which include Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal).
“The presence of the monster ship in our waters is illegal and inconsistent with the exercise of freedom of navigation and innocent passage. It is clearly a provocative act," Malaya said. "The National Maritime Council already called for the withdrawal of this monster ship from Philippine waters."
“But insofar as the objective of this presence, which is to intimidate our fishermen and to intimidate us, we can clearly state that the intimidation tactic is not successful and we remain [resolute] to support our Filipino fishermen. We will not stop challenging their presence within Philippine waters,” he added.
The CCG-5901, first deployed to Zambales’ coast last Jan 4, was detected 77 nautical miles west of Capones Island in Zambales on Jan. 14.
Two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels were deployed in the area to challenge the ‘monster’ ship’s presence, BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) and BRP Gabriela Silang (OPV-8301). An aerial asset from the PCG was also patrolling the area for monitoring.
On Monday, Jan. 13, BRP Teresa Magbanua had to temporarily return to the Port of Bataan for repairs after its auxiliary engines overheated. The PCG’s flagship vessel has already returned to Zambales to prevent China’s monster ship from inching closer to Zambales.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the presence of the monster ship in Zambales' coast cannot be considered an innocent passage or does not fall under the principle of freedom of navigation.
"If we're going to look at the movement of China Coast Guard vessels, it is not continuous and it is not expeditious. Meaning, it has erratic movements -- sometimes it goes up, goes down, turns left, turns right arbitrarily. There is no specific reason why they are doing that," he explained.
Further, he believes that the Chinese government intends to “normalize” the presence of its coast guard vessels in Zambales and change the status quo in Bajo de Masinloc.
“I would say this is something new based on our observation with the other China Coast Guard vessels. Before they were only patrolling in those areas that are pretty much contested and there is always a support of Chinese maritime militia’s swarming,” Tarriela said.
“This time around, the behavior of the China Coast Guard is intentional and focused only at a certain distance off the coast of Zambales: either 60 to 90 nautical miles,” he added.
China eyeing reclamation in Bajo de Masinloc?
Bajo de Masinloc, a coral reef formation surrounding a lagoon in the West Philippine Sea, is located 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales. It is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
But China has been in control of the lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc since 2012 following a tense standoff between Manila and Beijing.
Last year, there were reports that reached the PCG and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that there were sightings of a big pipe installed in Bajo de Masinloc, raising suspicion of a reclamation attempt by China.
The Philippine Navy (PN) also discovered five submersible drones in different parts of the country’s waters since last year: two were found in Kalayaan Island in the northern part of the country, one was off the coast of Pasuquin in Ilocos Norte, another one in Initao, Misamis oriental, and the most recent one was discovered by fishermen in Masbate on Dec. 30 last year.
The recovered drones were used for gathering bathymetric data such as water temperature, the depth of water and salinity, and could be used for academic, commercial, scientific and military purposes, according to Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, PN spokesperson for West Philippine Sea.
Despite this, the PN remains skeptical of potential reclamation in Bajo de Masinloc as it insisted that they have been patrolling the area non-stop to thwart attempts at building new artificial islands by China.
“The reports that some countries are conducting reclamation activities there are not correct,” Trinidad said, noting that attempts at reclamation in Bajo de Masinloc is considered by the Philippine government as a "red line" that should not be crossed by China or other nations.
The PCG echoed the Navy’s position, stressing that it will not allow any foreign country to seize even an inch of Philippine territory to build up on them.
“We’re not going to allow China to normalize the illegal deployment of the China Coast Guard because that is what they have been doing. They’re going to normalize, change the status quo and operationalize and claim that they have been doing this for the past months or years,” Tarriela said.
“For the Philippine Coast Guard, we are documenting this illegal presence of China Coast Guard and telling the world that the Philippine government is against this unlawful presence of China Coast Guard-5901,” he added.