PLA, PN ships nearly collide

A Navy ship of the China People's Liberation Army, or PLA, recently executed a brazen maneuver that nearly led to a fatal collision with a Philippine Navy, or PN, vessel, which led the Armed Forces of the Philippines to brand the maneuver "irresponsible and unprofessional."

In a chance interview, AFP spokesperson, Col. Medel Aguilar, said the PN did not anticipate that the Chinese vessel would cross the bow of its ship.

The seeming taunt by Beijing was similar to the crossing by a Chinese jet across the path of a US aircraft sometime last May.

The Chinese fighter jet performed an "unnecessarily aggressive" maneuver against one of its aircraft during a flight over the West Philippine Sea, according to US forces.

In a written statement on Tuesday, the US Indo-Pacific Command, the armed forces branch overseeing the region, said its aircraft was conducting "safe and routine operations" in "international airspace" when it was intercepted by the Chinese J-16 jet.

'Shadowing' routine

"Based on the report, the shadowing of ships was a usual occurrence, but the crossing of the bow was something new, so that is an innovation," Aguilar told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

Aguilar said China's PLA-Navy ship 621 recently shadowed the PN's BRP Benguet at a distance of 80 yards while it was at 5.8 nautical miles southwest of Pag-asa Island en route to Rizal Reef for a regular rotation and resupply mission last 13 October.

China's warship attempted to cross the Benguet's bow at the closest point of approach at 350 yards, he said.

The bow of a ship is the forward part of the hull that reduces wind and water resistance to enable the ship to pass efficiently through the water.

No debate

Aguilar stressed that China's claims to features in the West Philippine Sea "can no longer be subjected to a debate."

"If we focus our discussion on what happened during the RoRe (rotation and reprovisioning) mission, it is very clear. First, they shadowed our vessel to as close as 80 yards; then, they tried to cross the bow of our ship, which could have led to an accident. So, how do you describe those actions? As it is, these actions are irresponsible and unprofessional," Aguilar said.