Chinese militia ships in West PH Sea retreat due to bad weather – PCG

This photo taken on February 15, 2024, shows an aerial view of China Coast Guard vessels and Chinese vessels identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as maritime militia surround the Philippine fishing boats and the BRP Datu Tamblot during a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-led mission to bring supplies and assistance to the fishermen in over Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / Agence France-Presse)

MANILA, Philippines — The West Philippine Sea has seen a reduced presence of Chinese maritime militia vessels (CMMVs) due to bad weather, authorities said, in a trend also observed in previous years.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea, shared the update regarding the number of CMMVs near Hasa-Hasa Shoal and Rozul Reef, though he did not provide numbers.

READ: Bad weather may cause decrease of Chinese militia ships in West PH Sea

“Well, due to the extremely bad weather in the West Philippine Sea, even the Chinese maritime militia that are swarming in those areas have significantly decreased,” Tarriela said of the two maritime features in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum on Wednesday.

Asked how many CMMVs are left in the area, Tarriela said: “I don’t have the numbers right now, but it’s significantly decreased. I think in Hasa-Hasa shoal, there are no more Chinese maritime militia.”

West Philippine Sea monitor Ray Powell shared a similar observation regarding Rozul Reef, telling the Inquirer that as of Thursday, satellite imagery showed “around 12 to 15” CMMVs in the area, fewer than the 50 vessels observed there last month.

“The current number at Rozul Reef is not unusual in my observation,” said Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, in a post on X (formerly Twitter). However, he added that the weather has nothing to do with it.

Regarding Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal, Powell said there was a brief Chinese presence last month when the PCG and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources installed fish aggregating devices, “but after that event, they redeployed.”

“Hasa-Hasa Shoal is not really a regular place where the militia stages anyway,” he added.

Powell has previously observed that CMMVs often leave the area during storms, with some reportedly heading to a port in Hainan, China.

READ: West Philippine Sea: Chinese militia ships flee Panatag as Enteng nears

However, the Philippine Navy (PN) reported this year’s largest ever presence of Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and naval ships in June. At least 49 CCG vessels and navy warships were reported within the 30 days last month, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea, said on Tuesday.

READ: China Coast Guard, Navy ships in WPS increasing since January

“The large CCG ships are probably able to ride out the storms much better than the militia,” Powell said last year.

In a related development near Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, a CCG vessel with hull number 4203 has been trailing the BRP Teresa Magbanua since July 3, according to Powell.

The PCG ship, which was patrolling outside the shoal, was initially spotted 25 nautical miles east of Scarborough Shoal and, as of Tuesday, was seen 125 nautical miles north of the feature.

China seized control of Scarborough Shoal’s lagoon in 2012 following a standoff between its coast guard and Philippine vessels. Since then, at least two CCG ships have been stationed inside the lagoon, according to authorities.

Beijing has continuously made aggressive actions against the PCG, the PN, and fisherfolk in asserting its sovereignty claim in almost the entire South China Sea through its now ten-dash line. This continued behavior persists despite the landmark 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, which effectively invalidated Beijing’s overlapping claims and strongly upheld Manila’s sovereign rights in the western portion of its exclusive economic zone./mcm