The BRP Cabra was patrolling near
marie-louise bank, about 147 nautical, miles 87 kilometers off the coast of el
nido town in palawan province when it
spotted the chinese ship on, the coast
guard said.
The incident occurred a day after the
fifth anniversary of a landmark
international arbitral ruling that
affirmed manila's rights to its
territories in the South China Sea and
declared beijing's claims over most of
the contested waterway as baseless.
The navy warship had a flag of the
people's republic of china and was
marked by chinese characters, coast guard
spokesman commodore armand balilo said
in a statement.
BRP Cabra calmly raised a radio
challenge while monitoring the movement
of the said ship using radar. The PCG Vessel moved closer to see more clearly
the activity of the chinese navy warship
in our waters, he said using an acronym
for the philippine coast guard.
The chinese warship bow number 189
maintains silence, forcing the philippine
coast guard ship to use a long-range
acoustic device to broadcast audible
notifications and warnings. It broke its silence and sent a radio
message after the philippine coast guard
ship continued its challenge.
"Philippine coast guard 4409, this is
chinese navy warship 189, please keep two nautical miles distance
from me," the local coast guard quoted the
message as saying. Only then did the chinese ship turn
around to leave marie-louise bank, Balilo
said adding that the brp cabra followed
to ensure that the foreign ship left the
country's exclusive economic zone.
The philippine coast guard said the crew
strictly followed the manual on
enforcing rules within the EEZ. This is to ensure that we follow a
rules-based and peaceful approach in
guarding our democracy and that the
rights of the philippines to protect its
sovereignty are protected, Balila said.
Officials in Manila did not immediately
respond when binar news an
rfa-affiliated online news service
contacted them to ask if this was the
first incident involving a chinese
marked warship since a dispute over
chinese ships in the Philippine EEZ began in march or why they waited nearly
a week to release details about the
incident at sea.
Last month brp cabra chased away five
chinese and two Vietnamese ships that
had been monitored in the country's
waters, according to the coast guard.
Backed by other ships on it chased away
seven chinese ships from Sabina Shoal, national security advisor Herma Jeans Esperon Jr. Said at the time
the shoal is 130 nautical miles, 241 kilometers west of puerto princesa
in palawan province within the EEZ. Both the philippines and china as well
as Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan
claim in whole or parts of the sea
region.
Indonesia does not regard itself as a
party to the south china sea dispute, but Beijing claims historic rights to parts
of the sea overlapping indonesia's
exclusive economic zone.
While President Rodrigo Duterte has said
that the ruling by the permanent court
of arbitration in the hague clearly
favored the philippines he has been
reluctant to enforce it. Duterte has maintained that china is a
friend who has been generous with its
economic largesse and anti-covid 19
vaccines.
His foreign and defense secretaries have
pointed out that friendly relations
aside, the arbitral court ruling was set
in stone and was part of international
law.
The United States, Japan, Australia and
other countries meanwhile have backed
the philippines, urging china to follow
international norms and stop its
expansionist moves in the sea region. The chinese embassy in Manila did not
reply to a binar news request for
comment on monday.
last week beijing's foreign ministry
dismissed the arbitration award as
nothing more than a piece of waste paper.
philippines president rodrigo duterte
has decided to fully restore the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the
u.s which governs the presence of
american troops in the country. In a joint press briefing on philippines
defense secretary delfin lorenzana
announced duterte's decision to retract
the notice of termination of the vfa.
U.S Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is on
a two-day official visit to the
philippines. In a bilateral meeting held
at camp general Emilio Aguinaldo, the two
officials discussed enhancing security
ties and defense cooperation between the
countries developments in the south
china sea and the indo-pacific
region.
Austin said a strong and
resilient u.s and philippines alliance
remained vital to the security, stability
and prosperity of the indo-pacific. a fully restored VFA will help us
achieve this goal together.
