PCG drives away Chinese militia vessel, 24 small boats near Kota Island
Screengrab from Philippine Coast Guard video MANILA, Philippines — A five-member Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) team drove away a Chinese maritime militia vessel and 24 smaller boats spotted fishing within the territorial waters of Kota Island in the West Philippine Sea on Monday.
In a statement on Tuesday, the PCG said its personnel stationed on Kota Island spotted Chinese maritime militia vessel 9622 about 2.2 kilometers northwest of the island at around 10 a.m.
Members of the five-man Philippine Coast Guard team spot these Chinese boats near Kota Island. Screengrab from PCG video READ: AFP mission aborted due to Chinese ships
The vessel deployed 24 small boats, also known as “sampans,” each carrying two people. The boats spread out at intervals of about 46 meters and were later observed fishing and circling within 274 meters of the island.
Kota Island, also known as Loaita Island, is one of the Philippine-occupied features in the Kalayaan Island Group in the Spratly Islands. It is part of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan province.
At around 11 a.m., five PCG personnel assigned to Coast Guard Station Kota boarded a rubber boat to challenge the Chinese vessels.
The Chinese militia vessel ignored radio challenges, while its crew acknowledged instructions to leave only through hand signals, according to the PCG.
The militia vessel and all 24 smaller boats withdrew from the area upon the arrival of the Coast Guard team.
All five PCG personnel returned safely to their station, with no untoward incident reported.
The PCG said the deployment of 24 smaller boats from a single militia vessel allowed the Chinese vessel to extend its reach and reinforce its presence in the area under the appearance of civilian fishing activity.
It said unauthorized fishing by foreign vessels within Kota Island’s territorial sea violated Philippine sovereignty, fisheries laws and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The Coast Guard also criticized the Chinese vessel’s failure to respond to radio challenges, saying it disregarded basic standards of good seamanship.
The incident came days after Chinese vessels interfered with a Philippine rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, forcing the military to abort the operation.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Saturday that the mission would continue despite the setback, stressing that the Philippines would not be deterred from resupplying its military outpost at the shoal.
China claims sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, including areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal rejected the legal basis for China’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea and ruled that none of the features in the Spratly Islands could generate an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. The ruling did not settle sovereignty over the disputed islands.
China has refused to recognize the ruling. /jpv
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