MANILA: A China Coast Guard (CCG) ship was spotted “cruising” outside Manila Bay on Thursday (July 25) morning, according to West Philippine Sea monitor Ray Powell.
Sea Light director Ray Powell said this is not the first time it passed close to Manila Bay, but he still deemed it unusual.
“We’re seeing China normalising a new activity in sending its coast guard nearer the Philippine coastline,” Powell, Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation which monitors the activities of Chinese vessels in South China Sea, told INQUIRER.net.
“This is not the first time I’ve seen them pass this close to Manila Bay, but it is unusual.”
Earlier, Powell said on X (formerly Twitter): “China’s intrusive patrols continue with China Coast Guard 3301 cruising outside Manila Bay this morning.”
Powell CCG ship with hull number 3301 was marked about 95 nautical miles (NM) from the mouth of Manila Bay at 9am on Thursday.
However, as of 11:32AM, the CCG vessel passed approximately 62.08 NM west of Capones Island, Zambales, Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said in a statement.
Powell said the CCG ship might be heading back to China since the ship has been at sea since June 15.
“Given how long it’s been at sea it may head home after this,” he said.
At one point, CCG ship 3301, along with another CCG vessel with hull number 3015, passed by El Nido, Palawan, Tarriela earlier confirmed.
As of Thursday, CCG ship 3015 remains 64.5 NM away from El Nido, Palawan, according to Tarriela.
Manila is holding the line in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the exclusive economic zone of the country’s western section, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the July 2016 arbitral award.
Beijing, which continues to reject the historic tribunal award, employs what experts deem as intrusive patrols in Manila’s exclusive economic zone as one of its ways to assert claims in the area.
The landmark July 2016 ruling stemmed from a case filed by Philippines in 2013, or a year after its tense standoff with China over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, which lagoon is now being controlled by Beijing. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
