CCG ‘monster ship’ driven away anew by PCG
Credit to Author: Ghio Ong| Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) once again drove away the so-called monster ship of the China Coast Guard (CCG) that was caught sailing closer to the shores of Zambales province.
The PCG’s 97-meter patrol ship BRP Teresa Magbanua “initially spotted” the 165-meter CCG 5901 “54 nautical miles from shore” of Zambales last Feb. 2, according to a statement from Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG’s spokesman on West Philippine Sea issues.
The PCG vessel “pushed back” CCG 5901, said to be the world’s largest coast guard ship, “to approximately 120 nautical miles,” he noted.
Despite being driven away, the CCG maintained it was “performing law enforcement duties on the jurisdictional waters of the People’s Republic of China in accordance with law,” said a radio announcement in both English and Chinese heard inside the Teresa Magbanua.
It added: “The Arbitral Award for the South China Sea arbitration is illegal and invalid, that China neither accepts nor legitimizes.”
The radio announcement from CCG 5901 went on, “China firmly upholds its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, and (advocates) to manage maritime differences through dialog and cooperation.”
It also called on BRP Teresa Magbanua to preserve “peace and stability in the South China Sea and maintain mutual trust and cooperation between our countries with concrete actions.”
Through a female PCG officer onboard the patrol ship, Teresa Magbanua replied to the radio challenge of CCG 5901 by saying it was “sailing within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), approximately 117 nautical miles northwest of Capones Point in Zambales, Philippines.”
“You do not possess any legal authority to patrol within the Philippines’ (EEZ),” she added, pursuant to Republic Act 12064 or the Maritime Zones Act, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the 2016 Arbitral Award.
The landmark ruling upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea covered by its 200-nautical mile EEZ, at the same time junked China’s claim over the entire South China Sea.
“While CCG-5901 has expressed intentions to promote peace and stability through mutual trust and cooperation over the radio, the actions of the China Coast Guard starkly contradict these assertions, revealing a hidden agenda that jeopardizes efforts toward a peaceful resolution,” Tarriela said.
He added the PCG would continue to “safeguard the welfare of Filipino fishermen, uphold our maritime rights, enforce international law and foster de-escalation of tensions in our waters.”
He noted the CCG has been patrolling in the West Philippine Sea for 30 days as of Feb. 2.
In Zamboanga City, the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard escorted out three Chinese warships, including a cruiser-guided missile class, that were spotted Monday afternoon transiting off the coast of this city and Basilan.
The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) confirmed it was closely monitoring and tracking the movement of the three Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy warships that entered Philippine waters.
Maj. Orlando Ayllon Jr., spokesman for Westmincom, said the PLA warships were first monitored last Sunday in the vicinity of the West Philippine Sea and were spotted between the coast of Zamboanga and Basilan about noon Monday by the Litoral Monitoring Station (LMS) of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao.
The Westmincom said the warships were a Jianki Class Frigate II, a Renhai Class Cruiser Guided Missile and Type 903 Fuchi Class Replenishment Oiler traversing the international sea lane in the Sibutu Passage toward Basilan Strait.
According to Ayllon, while the transit of vessels of other nation-states is allowed subject to their compliance with national and international laws and procedures governing innocent passage, the Chinese warships did not coordinate with Philippine authorities and Westmincom.
“The said PLA navy vessels transited without prior diplomatic coordination and maintained unusually slow speed at four to five knots,” Ayllon said.
The Westmincom said the movement was not consistent with the principles of innocent passage, which require continuous and expeditious passage and “the vessels should not linger in archipelagic waters longer than necessary.”
The Navy on the LMS and the PCG made repeated radio challenge to the passing Chinese warships on their purpose but there was no immediate response, until later saying the ships were just passing through.
Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday called for stronger regional cooperation, economic resilience and responsible technology governance to address security and economic challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, to deter China’s further aggression.
The leader of the 306-member House of Representatives said geopolitical tensions, economic vulnerabilities and technological disruptions in the region require a coordinated global response.
“We gather at a critical moment when the Indo-Pacific – home to 4.7 billion people, or 60 percent of the global population and a driving force of global trade and innovation – is both a region of immense opportunity and unprecedented challenges,” the Leyte first district congressman said.
Romualdez made the remarks before incumbent and former international lawmakers, diplomats, security experts and technology experts who attended the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum (PI-SF) held in Manila.
“It is a region where economic dynamism coexists with intensifying strategic competition, geopolitical tensions and non-traditional security threats. These realities demand our collective action and resolve as parliamentarians and policymakers,” he said.
The PI-SF, a global platform that convenes legislators to discuss intelligence, security and economic threats, has played a key role in strengthening multilateral cooperation against emerging global challenges.
The global threats posed by Beijing by way of coercion, corruption and military expansion were topics at the Philippine security forum, the main critics of whom were former US congressman Robert Pittenger, Sen. Bill Cassidy and former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger.
The US officials accused the Communist Party of China of destabilizing the global order through economic subversion, political infiltration and military expansionism. — Roel Pareño, Delon Porcalla