Chinese research vessels near east coast of PH evading bad weather

Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, spokesperson of the Philippine Navy for West Philippine Sea speaks to the members of the media at West Philippine Sea Office, Manila City in this file photo taken on March 6, 2024. INQUIRER.net / Arnel Tacson

MANILA, Philippines – The two Chinese research vessels reportedly spotted near the east coast of Luzon could have been evading the storms and typhoons, a ranking naval official said Wednesday.

Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, said the vessels tracked two days ago were being monitored.

READ: Chinese ships seen again at Philippine Rise

“I would say that they could probably be evading the typhoon, so general direction would show that they are southward, southbound, so umiiwas sila sa masamang panahon (they were avoiding the bad weather),” he told reporters.

In a text message, Trinidad said the vessels were spotted about “350 nm (nautical miles) south of the Phil Rise and 120 nm east of Catuandanes as of yesterday afternoon.”

Earlier reports said the ships entered the Philippine exclusive economic zone off its eastern seaboard nighttime of Nov. 4.

Trinidad said there is nothing to be alarmed about the incident as it is similar to the sighting of two fishing boats near the country’s east coast in Aurora province after a typhoon last week.

He said the vessels came from mainland China.

“We have a track of those ships. But again, if you analyze the weather in the region, it would show that these ships were most likely evading the weather disturbance,” he said.

NATO-like alliance won’t work in ASEAN

Meanwhile, Trinidad also said that a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance would not work for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries due to differing views.

“Because of the divergent views of primarily the ASEAN countries individually. It will be a hard sell because of the different national interests of the ASEAN countries individually,” he said.

Earlier, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said a “NATO-type ASEAN” is not possible due to dichotomies and divergences among these countries.

Teodoro said an example of this is the Philippines’ pre-ASEAN defense alliance with the United States and the country’s decision to cooperate with like-minded countries while other Southeast Asian countries have allied themselves with China.

NATO was formed in 1949 and consists of 30 European countries and two North American nations.

It is a counter to the then Warsaw Pact consisting of the former Soviet Union and its allied states.

NATO is a collective security system where all member states have agreed to defend one another from third-party attacks.