Manila, Oct 1 (EFE) – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deployed its largest ship and an aircraft on Thursday to expel a Chinese vessel that it claims had been in its waters for four days, off the coast of the northern province of Batanes, authorities said.
The incident, the latest in a series of recent tensions between the two countries, began at around 7:55 am, when the patrol vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua approached the Chinese ship Jia Hai Ke 7 to try to disrupt its activities, while demanding by radio that it leave the area, according to the PCG.
The Filipino vessel, one of the most modern in the archipelago’s coast guard, was also supported by an aircraft from the agency, which flew over the area after the Chinese ship repeatedly maneuvered to evade authorities, PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela, said in a statement.
According to Manila, it was a Chinese research ship, vessels that have intensified their activities this year off the east coast of Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea with missions in which they collect basic marine environment data, such as sedimentary strata or seabed topography.
According to military experts, this information could be useful for future submarine and anti-submarine warfare operations, while Beijing maintains that these campaigns provide a «scientific basis» for the country’s research in waters it considers its own.
The Philippine spokesperson expressed his suspicions about the objective of the Chinese ship, which he said was protected by another from China’s coast guard.
The spokesperson pointed out that for a government vessel to protect a so-called private research vessel conducting illegal scientific research in another country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) raised serious questions about who it was really working for.
Manila also denounced suspicious maneuvers by the vessel, accusing it of having manipulated its automatic identification system to conceal its route, and attributing to the ship a possible intelligence gathering operation around the submarine cable corridors of Luzon Strait.
The incident occurs just one day after the Chinese military conducted combat readiness patrols with fighters and bombers around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, to strengthen control over its waters and airspace.
The territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila has intensified since the arrival to power in 2022 of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has strengthened his military alliance with the US and adopted a firmer stance in the defense of his territory. EFE
pbz/pd
