PH Coast Guard ship drives away Chinese navy warship in West PH Sea

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 19) – The Philippine Coast Guard said it drove away a Chinese navy warship last week from an area some 147 nautical miles off El Nido, Palawan and within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

In a statement Monday, the PCG said its vessel BRP Cabra on July 13 chased off a Chinese Navy Warship 189 from waters off the Marie Louise Bank in the West Philippine Sea.

The PCG added that its personnel conducted a radio challenge to the Chinese warship while monitoring the foreign vessel in their radar.

As the PCG personnel led by Commander Erwin Tolentino moved closer, the Chinese warship did not respond, prompting them to issue another verbal challenge using the Filipino vessel’s long range acoustic device.

The Chinese warship moved away after the last radio challenge by the BRP Cabra, but it sent a reply as it was being escorted out of the Philippines’ EEZ.

“Philippine Coast Guard 4409, this is Chinese Navy Warship 189. Please keep two nautical miles distance from me,” the radio challenge said.

Last July 5, the BRP Cabra also drove away five Chinese and two Vietnamese vessels from the same area near the Marie Louise Bank. 

Status quo in foreign policy

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said recent incidents like the BRP Cabra driving away foreign vessels inside the country’s EEZ do not mean the Duterte administration is veering away from its foreign policy.

“We will not surrender any of our territories and we will always protect what is ours,” Roque said Monday night during President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekly public address.

Roque said the incidents show the PCG’s increased capacity to protect the country’s territories.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana thought the Chinese warship immediately left the area after being challenged because it was too near Palawan.

“Kaya sila umalis ay dahil napakalapit nila sa Palawan. That is uncontested, sa atin yun. Pangalawa, ayaw nila magkaroon ng insidente diyan involving their naval ships,” Lorenzana said, responding to Duterte’s question on why the Chinese warship pulled out.

[Translation: They (Chinese) left because they are very near in Palawan. That is uncontested, it is ours. Second, they don’t want to start an incident there involving their naval ships.]

An arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruled that China’s island-building activities in the West Philippine Sea violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS and “have caused devastating and long-lasting damage to the marine environment.” China rejects the ruling, which also recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights to parts of its EEZ which Beijing contests.