AFP monitors Russia-China WPS exercises

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it is monitoring the situation in the West Philippine Sea after receiving reports of a Russian corvette conducting bilateral exercises with Chinese warships in the Philippine Sea east of the country.

“What they do in the high seas is being monitored,” AFP public affairs chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad said.

Trinidad said the AFP will continue to monitor the areas where the maritime exercise is reportedly being conducted “to ensure that Philippine sovereign rights are not violated.”

“The AFP is committed to ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.

“We emphasize the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region and urge all parties to adhere to international laws and norms,” he added.

Citing Russia’s TASS state news agency, the Jakarta Post reported that the Sovershennyi corvette of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, together with a detachment of People’s Liberation Army Navy warships, “conducted training to inspect a suspicious vessel during a joint naval patrol in the Philippine Sea.”

“During the episode of inspecting a suspicious vessel, Russian and Chinese naval sailors worked out an algorithm for joint actions,” the report stated, noting that no details were given on the origin of the “suspicious vessels.”

The AFP also reported that a Chinese aircraft carrier, Shandong, was spotted close to Philippine waters while en route for military drills.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Wednesday morning detected a “relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels” in Taiwan’s vicinity, near the northern Philippines.

“The AFP notes the deployment of a Chinese carrier strike group in the Philippine Sea with concern,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters.

In a media interview, Taipei’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said the Chinese aircraft carrier transited the Balintang Channel north of the Philippines and was sailing toward the Western Pacific.

PCG: China’s claim ‘ridiculous’

Meanwhile, the PCG refuted China’s claim that it had granted permission for Filipino medical evacuation missions within Philippine territorial waters in the WPS.

PCG spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela unequivocally dismissed the assertion as “ridiculous,” emphasizing that China lacks any legal basis to intervene in operations within the Philippines’ EEZ.

“The claim made by the People’s Republic of China that they authorized a medical evacuation of a sick navy personnel, ostensibly to portray themselves as humanitarian while exerting authority over operations in our EEZ, is not only baseless but absurd,” Tarriela asserted.

He condemned China’s actions as flagrantly illegal, declaring, “This statement further underscores the unlawful presence of their vessels within our EEZ and underscores their belief that ensuring human life and welfare requires their approval.”

Tarriela was referring to the PCG’s recent attempt to conduct an emergency medical evacuation of a sick soldier from the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, an operation that the China Coast Guard obstructed on 7 July.

Tarriela vehemently criticized the China Coast Guard’s deployment of multiple small vessels to disrupt the Philippines’ humanitarian mission near the decaying military vessel.

“The deployment of numerous boats to deliberately obstruct the medical evacuation for hours is a clear demonstration of their complete disregard for humanitarian principles,” he stressed.

Search for missing fisherman

Meanwhile, the PCG confirmed that it is actively searching for a fisherman who went missing following a collision with an unidentified vessel in the West Philippine Sea.

According to the PCG, fisherman Jose Mondoñedo remains missing after his fishing boat was struck by an unidentified vessel on 3 July.

Mondoñedo and his brother Robert were fishing approximately 62 nautical miles southeast of Sampaloc Point in Subic, according to PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo. Robert Mondoñedo was rescued three days after the incident.

The PCG is currently investigating two vessels suspected of colliding with the fishing boat. Balilo identified one as a bulk carrier and the other as a cargo vessel, both originating from China and bound for Indonesia. The PCG’s Port State Control Officer is coordinating with his Indonesian counterpart in the investigation.