MANILA/ZAMBOANGA - Newly released Philippine Coast Guard videos show Chinese coast guard ships remaining in South China Sea waters within Manila’s exclusive economic zone west of Luzon, where they have lingered for the past month, PCG officials said.
In video footage taken from a PCG airplane over the weekend and released on Monday, several Chinese coast guard ships were tracked sailing in waters near Manila-claimed Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines, according to Filipino officials.
On Sunday, two China Coast Guard ships – CCG 3301 and CCG 3104 – were also tracked only 34 nautical miles off the coast of Pangasinan, a province on the west coast of Luzon, the main island in the northern Philippines.
The PCG said it immediately deployed an aircraft to identify the foreign ships and issued radio challenges but those were ignored, according to officials. The Philippine Coast Guard also dispatched two vessels to the area.
Philippine Coast Guard Tracks China Coast Guard Vessels off Pangasinan Coast
— Jay Tarriela (@jaytaryela) February 2, 2025
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has detected the movement of two China Coast Guard vessels approximately 34 nautical miles off the coast of Pangasinan through its Dark Vessel Detection (DVD) program.… pic.twitter.com/6hUtrr85h1
Located about 125 nautical miles (232 km) from Luzon, Scarborough Shoal is a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen but it has been under China’s de facto control since 2012.
The Philippine Coast Guard is committed to “preventing the normalization of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) illegal deployment of maritime forces in the region,” the agency said in a statement.
The BRP Teresa Magbanua, a local coast guard ship, has been “actively challenging the presence of China Coast Guard 5901,” which is now about 117 nautical miles from the country’s coast, according to officials.
Dubbed “The Monster,” the CCG 5901 is the world’s largest coast ship. The Philippine coast guard statement did not say how the Teresa Magbanua was challenging its bigger foreign counterpart.
“Today marks the 30th consecutive day of the China Coast Guard’s illegal presence in the waters off Zambales,” the PCG said in its statement Saturday, referring to another province on Luzon’s west coast.
The refusal of the Chinese vessel to leave the Philippine EEZ is a “blatant disregard for international law and the established rules-based order,” it said.
Chinese navy ships off southern Philippines
Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy said it escorted three Chinese naval warships, including a cruiser-guided missile class vessel, out of Philippine waters on Monday. The vessels were first monitored Sunday off the coast of the southern Philippine provinces of Zamboanga and Basilan.
“The said PLA [People’s Liberation Army] navy vessels transited without prior diplomatic coordination and maintained an unusually slow speed of four to five knots,” said Maj. Orlando Aylon Jr., a regional military spokesman based in Zamboanga.
The three People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels seen by Philippine authorities included a Jianki Class Frigate II, a Renhai Class Cruiser Guided Missile and a Type 903 Fuchi Class Replenishment Oiler.
“This is not consistent with the principles of innocent passage which requires continuous and expeditious passage and that the vessels should not linger in archipelagic waters longer than necessary,” said Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command.
China defended the passage of its naval vessels in the area, saying they conducted training exercises in the open sea.
“The Chinese naval vessels’ passage through the Basilan Strait is in full compliance with … international law and practice,” a spokesperson for the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command said on Monday.
The Philippines’ “act of smearing and hyping up the Chinese naval vessels’ normal passage through the Basilan Strait has seriously undermined the normal navigation rights of other countries including China,” the spokesperson added.
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Beijing’s taking possession of Scarborough Shoal forced Manila to file a lawsuit at the world court in The Hague 13 years ago.
In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal ruled in Manila’s favor but Beijing has never acknowledged that decision.
Geopolitical analyst Julio Amador III, who closely monitors the South China Sea, said it was too early to determine the Chinese navy vessels’ intentions but he noted that the principle of “freedom of navigation” applied.
The same could also be said about China’s “monster” ship. As long as it maintained its distance in the periphery of Scarborough, that should not escalate the tension in the area, Amador said.
“But if it goes inside the lagoon and then patrols while challenging our claims, then there are grounds for protest,” he told BenarNews.
“The only difference between that ship and the CCG ships in 2012 is the size.”
He was referring to the first incident when Chinese vessels entered the area and unleashed an international crisis that later resulted in Manila’s filing of a lawsuit against Beijing.
The “monster” ship’s presence there “is to remind us that they are making claims on Scarborough.”
“They want control of the waters,” Amador said.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organizations.