2 Chinese vessels spotted during Phl-US maritime activity in WPS

Two Chinese navy vessels were monitored shadowing three Filipino ships while the Philippines and the United States were conducting a maritime cooperative activity in the portion of the West Philippine Sea near Lubang, Occidental Mindoro on Wednesday.

Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Command chief, said the two naval vessels operated by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy were monitored shadowing the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16), BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15), and the BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602) since Wednesday morning.

"They have been shadowing us since this morning, but wala namang ano 'yun. It's just like the United States they have the right to freedom of navigation so they're there—as you can see we are still doing our operations, we're still conducting our serials," said Carlos.

Despite China's presence, Carlos said the Philippines is still able to conduct a joint maritime patrol.

"They're not obstructing our movements but 'yun nga, they are monitoring our movement here in our training area, but this is our exclusive economic zone," he noted.

Carlos confirmed that the crew of the Philippine Navy's BRP Gregorio del Pilar radio challenged the PLAN vessel 570 and PLAN vessel 174 which were tracked sailing inside the MCA's operational box of about 15,000 square nautical miles.

"When we challenged them, ang sabi lang nila (they just said) they are operating within their jurisdictional area which is—that is false, that is wrong. We have the jurisdiction over this area because it is our exclusive economic zone," he said.

Carlos said China is so far limiting its actions to shadowing the Philippine ships.

"Wala naman ang sabi lang nila is they're operating within their jurisdictional area," he said.

As of this press time, Chinese vessels are still shadowing the Philippine vessels.