China’s PLA Navy shadows Philippine Coast Guard in West Philippine Sea

Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson for West Philippine Sea.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — This is the first time China has deployed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels to shadow the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in the West Philippine Sea, an agency official revealed on Wednesday.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, revealed that they spotted PLA Navy vessels in separate incidents of harassment in Bajo de Masinloc and Escoda Shoal.

“This is actually the first time that we have documented a PLA Navy warship shadowing a Coast Guard Vessel in Bajo de Masinlo at a distance of only 300 yards,” Tarriela said in a press conference.

Earlier, Tarriela released a statement revealing that five Chinese vessels also reportedly harassed Philippine vessels conducting a routine maritime patrol within Bajo de Masinloc.

In the same press briefing, the PCG official also bared four Philippine vessels deployed near Escoda Shoal encountered aggressive actions from several Chinese vessels.

Tarriela explained that the vessels were responding to a call from Filipino fishermen, saying that small Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) boats were preventing them from entering Escoda Shoal.

READ: Kiko Pangilinan condemns latest Chinese bullying in West Philippine Sea

Two CCG vessels tried to block BFAR’s BRP Datu Romapenet from reaching the Filipino fishermen during their patrol.

One of the Chinese vessels also sideswiped BRP Datu Bankaw twice and rammed BRP Romapenet, destroying some of its structure.

Last Monday, the PCG reported that a Chinese People’s Army Navy helicopter harassed Filipino fishermen in Rozul (Iroquois) Reef in the West Philippine Sea over the weekend.

Beijing’s continued aggression was based on its assertion of sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, as it continues to reject a July 2016 Arbitral Award that effectively dismissed its claims and ruled in favor of Manila.

The landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now effectively controls.