West PH Sea: 3 Chinese research ships monitored in PH waters in 3 weeks

Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela holds a press briefing on Tuesday in Manila. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Three Chinese research vessels were monitored within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) over the past three weeks, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said that they are continuing to monitor the remaining two Chinese research vessels after one of them left the EEZ and returned to Guangdong province on Tuesday morning.

“The first one, of course, is the Xiang Yang Hong 302. It departed Hainan last May 1. Right now, through the dark vessel detection provided to us by the Canadian government, we have already located this Chinese research vessel entering our exclusive economic zone,” Tarriela said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday.

READ: PCG spots 3 Chinese research vessels in eastern PH economic zone

“As of 8 o’clock this morning, we were able to locate its current location, 180 nautical miles off the coast of Rizal, Palawan,” he added.

Based on Tarriela’s description, Xiang Yang Hong 302 has an overall length of 100 meters and weighs 4,500 tons. It is capable of conducting a deep-sea survey.

“And then the next Chinese research vessel that we’re monitoring. It’s the Tan Sou Er Hao. It departed Hainan last May 8, around 12:40 in the afternoon. And right now, it is located at 130 nautical miles, Burgos, Ilocos Norte,” the PCG official revealed.

He added that they had already deployed a PCG aircraft two days ago and conducted a maritime domain awareness (MDA) flight to monitor the movement of Tan Sou Er Hao.

READ: PH allowed to use Canadian satellites vs ‘dark’ ships

Similarly, this Chinese research vessel has the capability for deep-sea research.

On the other hand, Tarriela said the third vessel Zhong Shan Da Xue arrived in the Philippine EEZ on March 31 and returned to its origin in Guangdong province in China on May 20.

“It only returned to Guangdong province last May 20. As you can see from the navigation pattern of this Chinese research vessel, the Chinese government cannot deny that what they are doing there is actually about scientific research,” he explained.