260 Chinese vessels spotted in West Philippine Sea in February – AFP
MANILA, Philippines — China’s disregard for the 2016 Arbitral Award continues, with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) disclosing yesterday that 260 Chinese vessels were spotted in various parts of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in February alone.
Of the 260, three were People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships, while 16 were China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels monitored around Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, where the Sierra Madre is grounded; Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc and Sabina (Escoda) Shoal.
“Emphasis is given to these three features as they are very important in protecting our exclusive economic zone (EEZ),” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters in a press briefing.
She also declared that the AFP will nevertheless “remain steadfast in our commitment to upholding international law and defending the integrity of our national territory.”
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesman for the WPS, said nine different coast guard vessels were monitored in Panatag Shoal, while seven were seen in Ayungin Shoal.
Meanwhile, two PLAN warships were spotted in Panatag Shoal and one in Ayungin Shoal.
Asked if the AFP is considering proposals for the military to escort Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) aircraft patrolling the area, Trinidad said the AFP “has always been present in the West Philippine Sea, in Bajo de Masinloc, in the Northern Islands. We have never left that place.”
Trinidad said China also continues to wage information attacks on the Philippines and that “the battlefield is the cognitive domain or the minds of the Filipino people…designed to shape the perception of the Filipinos. This is also called malign influence.”
He stressed that Filipinos should be wary of the misinformation that China has been peddling and be “very deliberate in receiving deceptive messages. Because again, this is all part and parcel of information attacks.”
He said more recent claims that Palawan used to be part of China or was discovered by China may be part of such information attacks, noting that “in an authoritarian state where social media and freedom of expression is regulated by government, everything is possible.”
“Such statements about Palawan are baseless. They are bereft of legal references. They are beyond common sense. In short, totally absurd. It will never happen that a part of the Philippines will be included in the sovereign territory of any other country,” Trinidad emphasized.
Meanwhile, the National Security Council (NSC) categorically rejected the revisionist claims about Palawan and is currently tracing the source of the disinformation, which first appeared on Chinese social media platform Weibo and a TikTok-like mobile app called Red Note.
“We wish to underscore that they do not come from official government sites nor have they been carried by Chinese mainstream media outlets…nonetheless, these false narratives, proliferated through digital disinformation and information warfare tactics, appear to be part of a broader effort to undermine Philippine sovereignty and manipulate public perception both in the Philippines and China,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a statement yesterday.
“Palawan has always been and will always remain an integral part of the Republic of the Philippines. No historical record, legal precedent nor credible evidence support the claim that Palawan was ever under Chinese sovereignty,” he added.
Año noted that archaeological findings, centuries of indigenous and colonial governance and internationally binding treaties such as the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1900 Treaty of Washington, unequivocally establish the Philippines’ ownership of Palawan.