The Philippine Navy has observed a drop in the number of Chinese vessels operating in key areas of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in recent days, citing the impact of inclement weather brought by recent typhoons.

Navy spokesperson for WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad on Tuesday confirmed nine Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) ships were monitored in Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal, while only two CCG vessels were present in Ayungin Shoal.

Meantime, a single People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship was spotted near Pag-asa Island as of 22 September.

“For the past one week, it has been constant — but if we compare this with the average of our monthly monitoring, there was a decrease in Bajo de Masinloc and in Ayungin Shoal,” Trinidad said, noting that the usual number of Chinese vessels in Bajo de Masinloc ranged from 14 to 20.

“Now it’s down to nine CCG vessels. There are no maritime militia boats currently in the area, and Ayungin Shoal has only two CCG ships,” he added.

Trinidad attributed the dip in Chinese maritime activity to the recent typhoons, most notably typhoon “Nando” and a preceding weather disturbance, which have also affected the Philippines’ own naval operations.

“Bad weather impacts all countries, all our ships. Not only our, not only the PLA Navy, the Coast Guard, but even our patrol missions and all other claimant countries. Our ships, our aircraft are grounded or could not proceed as we usually patrol in the area,” Trinidad said.

“Our ships are in port. We do not deploy naval patrols or aircraft sorties during storms, especially during severe weather systems. We don’t set out patrols,” he added.

Despite the weather-related slowdown, Trinidad assured the public that regular maritime domain awareness activities have continued as conditions allow.

“For the month of September, the Philippine Navy conducted seven patrol missions in Bajo de Masinloc and one in our northern islands,” Trinidad said.

“By Tuesday next week, we will release a full summary of our monitoring efforts, which will include air surveillance flights and naval patrols in both the WPS and the northern Philippine territories,” he added.

Asked whether there was a shift in Chinese behavior following the latest water cannon incident involving the Philippine Coast Guard and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel, Trinidad said there was no observed increase in Chinese presence after the confrontation.

“There was no increase in Chinese vessels. The numbers have remained fairly constant since that incident. In fact, we observed a decrease in their presence, again largely due to weather disturbances,” Trinidad said.

While the temporary dip in Chinese maritime presence offers some reprieve, Trinidad emphasized that the Navy remains committed to maintaining regular patrols and asserting Philippine sovereignty over its maritime territories.