China Coast Guard’s ‘monster ship’ expected to return to Sabina Shoal

(PHOTO FROM PCG)

MANILA, Philippines — After leaving last week, China Coast Guard’s (CCG) “monster ship” is likely to return to Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, a West Philippine Sea monitor said on Friday.

SeaLight director Ray Powell said the CCG vessel with bow number 5901 left the shoal as part of its “normal rotation.”

“I think its normal rotation time came up,” Powell told INQUIRER.net in a message on X (formerly Twitter). 

“From my observation 45 days is around the standard time they keep the large coast guard ships at sea before they rotate them,” Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation which monitors Chinese vessels activity in South China Sea, added.

The CCG’s giant patrol cutter had been deployed off Escoda Shoal on July 3, but the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it already left by August 10, staying for a total of 38 days.

When asked if there is a chance that the CCG-5901 returns to the vicinity of the shoal, Powell replied: “Certainly.”

“The question will be whether they intend to make its presence there frequent or whether they want it to simply be one of many large ships they station there,” he said.

A 135-meter CCG vessel with hull number 5303 was deployed by Beijing to replace CCG-5901. 

It is much smaller than the “monster ship”, which is the largest coast guard vessel in the world at 165 meters long and 22 meters wide.

Powell said the automatic identification system of CCG-5901 has been turned off since July 31, making it impossible for him to monitor its movements, but he said “it’s probably back at Hainan Island now.”

Beijing’s continuous deployment in Escoda Shoal comes as Manila maintains a persistent presence there.

The BRP Teresa Magbanua, a 97-meter multirole response vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), has been deployed in Sabina Shoal since April 16,

Beijing asserts 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 the arbitral award issued in July 2016.

This 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.

Chinese publication Global Times also claimed that the Philippines is planning to send another vessel to build a “forward deployment base” but Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said such fears are “unfounded.”

“China has repeatedly stated that it will not allow the Philippines to wantonly occupy [Escoda Shoal], so of course China will not allow the Philippines to deploy another large coast guard ship to anchor on the [Escoda Shoal] and increase the scale of the floating platform,” Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies under the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, was quoted by Global Times as saying.

“This is also ominous,” Powell said of Yang’s remarks.

“Things may start to get more interesting at Sabina Shoal if China starts aggressively contesting Philippine Coast Guard missions there,” he added.