Chinese warships presence in West Philippine Sea doubles

This handout photo taken on December 2, 2023 and released on December 3 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows an aerial view of Chinese vessels gathered by Whitsun Reef, around 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Palawan Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines—The total number of Chinese warships in the West Philippine Sea doubled compared to the previous monitoring period, the Philippine Navy said on Tuesday.

Data from the navy stated that there were 11 People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) warships monitored from May 28 to June 3 inside the western section of the Philippine exclusive economic zone.

This number was more than twice as large compared to the only five PLAN warships spotted the previous week, from May 21 to May 27.

READ: China vessels, warships withdraw from Scarborough after convoy 

Of the 11 warships, six PLAN ships were spotted off Escoda (Sabina) Shoal.

‘Unauthorized’ drills in Sabina Shoal

The huge number of warships was observed coinciding with the unauthorized PLAN exercise off Sabina Shoal over the weekend.

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, who is the navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the PLAN held the launching of hovercraft and aircraft as well as maneuvers off Sabina Shoal on Sunday and Monday.

READ: PH has every right to ground ships in Sabina Shoal, analysts say

“First and foremost, they have no right to be within our EEZ,” Trinidad said in a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo.

“The conduct of an exercise (within another country’s EEZ) is unauthorized under Unclos, it is not allowed,” he also said, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Meanwhile, the rest of the 11 monitored warships were spotted off Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal with two PLAN ships: Pagasa Island, two PLAN warships, and one PLAN ship off Lawak Island.

Slight increase

From May 28 to June 3, 125 vessels were monitored in total, including 105 Chinese maritime militia vessels, 11 PLAN warships, and nine China Coast Guard vessels.

This slightly increased to 122 Chinese vessels monitored from May 21 to May 27. However, the total number of vessels from the said period was a sharp decrease from the 153 ships recorded from May 14 to May 20.

The increase of Chinese vessels then was propelled by what the Philippine Coast Guard deem as an “overkill” deployment of CCG in anticipation of the civilian convoy for Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal.

The actions of CCG are in line with Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by a July 2016 international tribunal ruling which stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013.

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