Chinese survey ship ‘playing snake game’ near Batanes

Chinese survey ship Bei Diao 996 is shown conducting a lawnmower pattern off Batanes since September 3, 2025. — Photo courtesy of Sealight

MANILA, Philippines — It appeared that a Chinese survey ship was playing the snake game on old mobile phones in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Batanes.

Such is the case for an untrained eye when they see the track of Bei Diao 996 since September 3, as shown by the SeaLight’s image track obtained by Inquirer.

However, SeaLight director Ray Powell said Bei Diao 996 was conducting an “intrusive” survey in a “lawnmower pattern” which continued until Tuesday.

A ship traverses in a lawnmower or grid pattern when it conducts a bathymetric survey to map the seafloor, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

“There are different reasons to do this, but one of them is to chart the area for undersea (submarine) operations,” Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said in a message to X (formerly Twitter).

The 100-meter long survey ship joined the two other Chinese survey ships — Dong Fang Hong 3 and Zhi Hai — which are still in the country’s EEZ near Batanes province as of Tuesday.

Powell said Dong Fang Hong 3 “has been all over” since it left Hainan Island in China on August 16, while Zhi Hai has turned off its automatic identification system which should be detectable for him to monitor its track.

A sovereign country has exclusive rights to explore and use marine resources within its own exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Oceanographer Deo Florence Onda, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, said the “marine scientific research (MSR) activity can be considered illegal” as it had not gone through the required MSR permitting process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Last month, three armed China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were seen “bracketing” Batanes in what Powell said then was an unprecedented move.

READ: 3 armed China Coast Guard ships seen ‘bracketing’ Batanes

“I almost never see the CCG near Batanes,” Powell had said.

Chinese research ships, on the other hand, have been spotted near the area a number of times.

Batanes sits in the middle of Luzon Strait, a 200-mile wide body of water between Taiwan and Luzon which connects the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Luzon Strait is one of the main shipping routes and many submarine communication cables pass through this body of water. /das/mcm