The Philippine military has again reported a record high number of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), marking a dramatic surge for the third time this year.

A staggering 251 Chinese ships were recorded navigating within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a significant jump from the 157 logged just a week prior, between 10 and 16 September.

This uptick follows the controversial withdrawal of the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Teresa Magbanua from Escoda Shoal, raising tensions and concerns over sovereignty in the region.

“This time this is the largest increase. From 157, it dipped a bit, then surged to 251. For whatever reason, I don’t want to speculate. We continue to monitor and fulfill our mandate,” said Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, during a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Based on the previous report, the Philippine Navy monitored 207 Chinese vessels from 3 to 9 September while there were 203 ships from 27 August to 2 September.

Trinidad said the increase was recorded within the “force projection capability of the total number of maritime militia vessels they have in the entire South China Sea.”

“We could correlate this to the ongoing activities in the entire West Philippine Sea (at) Escoda shoal and the weather disturbance we had last week. Historically, each time there is a weather disturbance, the numbers go down and they come back after the weather disturbance,” he noted.

“It so happened that last week it was 157. We had a weather disturbance. They cleared the area. They came back from 157 to 251,” he said.

In the military’s latest data, there are 28 China Coast Guard vessels, 16 People’s Liberation Army Navy ships and 204 Chinese Maritime Militia vessels swarming the Philippine-occupied features in the WPS.

However, Trinidad maintained that China still has no control over the WPS as the number of its vessels is “within the total capability that they have for the South China Sea.”

“The term used as it is within the force projection capability. If we notice, the total number of maritime militia vessels in the entire South China Sea could be approximately 350 to 400, but these are dispersed all over the South China Sea,” he pointed out.

Despite the Chinese presence, Trinidad said the Armed Forces of the Philippines can still perform its mandate over the country’s territorial waters, particularly at the WPS flashpoints such as Escoda Shoal and Ayungin Shoal.

“The mere fact that the AFP, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Army could continue performing our mandate, we continue sailing the seas and flying the skies, not only the AFP but also the other government agencies, this only indicates that nobody has control of that vast expanse of water in the South China Sea,” he said.