China’s ‘monster ship’ leaving Panatag Shoal’s vicinity – PCG

THE MONSTER Filipino coast guardsmen aboard BRP Teresa Magbanua catch a glimpse of the largest China Coast Guard ship 5901 from a porthole at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal on July 3, 2024 — Photo from the Philippine Coast Guard

MANILA, Philippines — After a few months, China Coast Guard’s (CCG) “monster ship” is now leaving the vicinity of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Friday.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, made the update on the track of the CCG ship with bow number 5901 during a regular briefing.

“The 5901 is moving southwards; there is a possibility that it will go in other exclusive economic zones,” Tarriela said in a regular press briefing.

“This is the first time we see China Coast Guard’s monster ship, [after] loitering in Bajo de Masinloc, and all of a sudden it’s going downwards,” he added.

The June 2024 track of China Coast Guard’s “monster ship” with bow number 5901 mimics Beijing’s so-called ten-dash-line.

Spotted in the western section of the Philippine exclusive economic zone since December 2024, the “monster ship” is believed to be the largest armed coast guard cutter in the world.

CCG 5901 is 165 meters long and 22 meters wide — about one and a half of an average football field — and weighs 12,000 tons.

READ: PCG zeroing in on waters off Zambales due to China’s Monster ship

While CCG 5901’s track appears going southwards or towards the Kalayaan Group of Islands, Tarriela said its next destination is hard to determine.

“That’s a very tough question, we still don’t know,” he said when asked about the possible reason for its departure and its next track.

But Tarriela noted that based on the past voyage tracks in previous years, the CCG 5901 traversed the EEZs of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Beijing-occupied Paracel Islands before going back to the Chinese mainland.

“So there is a possibility that after staying for long in Bajo de Masinloc area and off the coast of Zambales, it will just move the usual rotation,” he added.

Previously, a maritime expert noted that the “monster ship” mimicked China’s so-called “ten-dash-line.”

READ: China patrols show 10-dash line push in West Philippine Sea, SCS

Last year, SeaLight Director Ray Powell said the CCG 5901’s track in 2024 sought “to mark the extent of its maritime claims.”

“It intentionally hits as many important locations within the [10]-dash-line claim as possible,” Powell then said of the monster ship’s track in a message to INQUIRER.net.

China doubled down on its sweeping claim in the South China Sea after adding a 10th dash covering the eastern section of Taiwan in 2023.

The then-nine-dash line, which encroaches upon the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, has already been effectively invalidated by a 2016 international tribunal ruling.

It was the Philippines that challenged China’s sweeping claim in 2013, or a year after a tense standoff with China over the Panatag Shoal, which China now has effective control of.