Four Chinese vessels, including three navy warships and a coast guard ship, were detected operating within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Occidental Mindoro on Sunday.
According to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), its multi-role response vessel, BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701), monitored three People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) warships during a maritime patrol in the region.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, identified the PLA-N warships by bow numbers 572, 536, and 551, locating them approximately 31 nautical miles northwest of Cabra Island.
“As of this (Sunday) afternoon, MRRV-9701 was shadowing the PLA-N vessels at distances ranging from 0.74 to 6.28 nautical miles while maintaining PCG presence and visibility in the area,” said Tarriela.
In a separate incident earlier that day, a PCG Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft spotted China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 3303 about 36.61 nautical miles northeast of Cabra Island during a maritime domain awareness flight.
Despite repeated radio challenges from the aircraft informing the vessel that it was operating in Philippine waters without authorization, “CCG-3303 did not respond to any of the challenges,” added Tarriela.
The sightings in Mindoro follow a related detection on Saturday, where the PCG tracked a PLA-N frigate (bow number 569) stationed 22 nautical miles east-northeast of Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc.
Tarriela indicated that the Chinese naval presence near Occidental Mindoro was likely tied to monitoring the joint maritime exercises conducted on September 23 by the Philippines alongside the US, Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei under the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus framework.
“The China Coast Guard’s silence in response to PCG radio challenges near Cabra Island mirrors this pattern and strongly suggests that CCG-3303 was operating in support of the PLA-N monitoring effort rather than performing any legitimate coast guard function,” said Tarriela.
Reiterating national jurisdiction, Tarriela emphasized that the waters around Cabra Island fall firmly inside the Philippine EEZ, where the nation holds sovereign rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Award.
“The PCG will continue to deploy its air and surface assets to monitor, document, and challenge foreign vessels operating in Philippine waters without authorization,” said Tarriela.