Chinese survey ship conducts unauthorized patrols in Escoda Shoal

FILE PHOTO: Escoda (Sabina) Shoal. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese survey ship conducted “zigzag” and unauthorized patrols in the waters of Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, where suspected reclamation activities were previously observed, according to the Philippine Navy.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, confirmed this on Tuesday, adding that the survey ship is 20 nautical miles away from Sabina Shoal.

“We have monitored the presence of a survey vessel, the San Hao, for the past 10 days we have tracked the area it has traversed,” Trinidad said in a regular briefing in Camp Aguinaldo.

The survey ship has been in Escoda Shoal since July 25, according to SeaLight director Ray Powell.

“It has been doing a zigzag pattern close to Sabina and the southern part of Sabina Shoal,” Trinidad said of the ship’s track.

Trinidad said China did not send the Philippines a request to conduct a survey in the area.

On top of this, China Coast Guard’s monster ship, deployed off Sabina Shoal since July 3, remains in the area as of Tuesday.

China’s presence is seen to challenge Manila’s persistent presence in Sabina Shoal.

Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) BRP Teresa Magbanua has been deployed in Sabina Shoal since April 16 to become the longest-deployed PCG asset in the West Philippine Sea following suspected reclamation activities around the shoal.

Manila is holding the line in the West Philippine Sea as Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the exclusive economic zone of the country’s western section, even if such a claim has been effectively invalidated by the arbitral award issued in July 2016.

The landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, or a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now has an effective control of.