China militia ships leave Scarborough due to storm – monitor

This photo taken on February 15, 2024, shows an aerial view of Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese militia ships have left the vicinity of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal due to Severe Tropical Storm “Paolo” in a typical move during inclement weather, a West Philippine Sea monitor told Inquirer on Friday.

SeaLight director Ray Powell said eight militia ships and one smaller China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel have retreated about 45 nautical miles south of Panatag Shoal on Friday.

Powell said these vessels left the vicinity of the shoal at 1:00 p.m. and reached their current location at 5 p.m.

“The maritime militia ships guarding the shoal have all retreated, apparently to wait for the storm to pass,” Powell,  program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, said in a message to X (formerly Twitter).

Powell, however, noted that two of the large China Coast Guard ships have remained in position near the shoal.

“This has been the usual pattern as these storms pass,” he said.

Paolo is moving towards the West Philippine Sea as of Friday evening, causing rough to very rough seas in the western seaboard of Luzon, according to state meteorologists.

The CCG’s presence in Panatag Shoal is in line with what Powell termed as “exclusion zone enforcement”, which outright flouts the 2016 Arbitral Award which declared the waters there as a traditional fishing ground of the Philippines, China and Vietnam.

The international tribunal ruling was made after then-President Benigno S. Aquino brought Beijing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2013, or a year after its tense standoff with Manila over Panatag Shoal. /gsg