PCG deploys aircraft to challenge Chinese research ship near Batanes

Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard for the West Philippine Sea, answers questions from the members of the media during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City on Feb. 22, 2025. | INQUIRER.net file photo / ARNEL TACSON

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has deployed an aircraft to challenge the Chinese research ship, which was accused of conducting a survey near Batanes province on Sunday.

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said the Chinese research ship Zhong Shan Da Xue was tracked using the dark vessel detection of the Canadian government.

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“As of 7 a.m. today, the distance of the Chinese research vessel is 103.86 nautical miles from Itbayat, Batanes,” Tarriela reported in a press conference on Monday.

“As we speak right now, the Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard has already directed our Coast Guard aircraft to challenge this Chinese research vessel and for us also to document such unlawful activity of the Chinese research vessel in our own exclusive economic zone up north,” he added.

Earlier, US-based maritime security expert Ray Powell said Zhong Shan Da Xue was spotted 72 nautical miles from Basco.

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 the 2016 arbitral ruling that effectively dismissed its claims and ruled in favor of Manila.