Chinese research ship passes between Busuanga and Mindoro – monitor
Chinese fisheries research ship Lan Hai 101 is spotted inside the country’s archipelagic waters. PHOTO FROM PHILIPPINE NAVY
MANILA, Philippines — One of the largest Chinese fisheries research ships spotted inside the country’s archipelagic waters is now on its way out and is now en route to the West Philippine Sea, a maritime expert said Tuesday.
Latest data from SeaLight director Ray Powell indicated that, as of 11:41 p.m., Lan Hai 101 “is now passing between Busuanga and Mindoro Islands on its way back into the West Philippine Sea, moving steadily at about 12 knots.”
READ: ‘China fisheries research ship spotted in PH archipelagic waters’
“It seems to be transiting, but why it chose this route is not clear,” Powell, who is the program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation and a retired US Air Force colonel, told INQUIRER.net in a message on X (formerly Twitter).
READ: Westmincom tracking movement of 3 Chinese vessels in PH waters
Powell raised the alarm that the ship could likely contain equipment that could have military applications.
“I should say that although the ship’s stated purpose is fisheries-related, it also seems likely that its equipment allows it to perform some basic intelligence collection missions—such as signals intelligence (SIGINT) or electronic intelligence (ELINT)—which would have military applications,” Powell noted.
Asked about the possible reason for its intrusive presence in the country’s archipelagic waters, Powell said: “I can only speculate. Perhaps there’s some innocent reason it couldn’t have taken a more direct route west of Palawan, but that’s not obvious to me.”
“One certainly could wonder if its purpose was to demonstrate that China doesn’t recognize the Philippines’ new archipelagic sea lanes,” Powell noted.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which clarifies the geographical extent of Manila’s maritime domain and specifies the legal powers that the country may exercise over these areas, while the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act ensures the protection of the country’s sovereignty and maritime domain.
Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, or the western section of the country’s EEZ.
In 2012, Manila and Beijing had a tense standoff over Panatag Shoal, with the former withdrawing its ships from the shoal, which led to the latter having effective control of its lagoon to date.
A year later, Manila lodged an arbitration case against Beijing after this standoff, which led to a historic 2016 arbitral award that effectively rejected the latter’s sweeping claims in the West Philippine Sea.
