2 weeks Ago
Aside from an aircraft carrier, the Philippine Navy confirmed Thursday that there were other Chinese warships spotted off the northern coast of Luzon earlier this week. Philippine Navy spokesperson for West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said that there were a total of nine Chinese vessels monitored near the country. “This was one of the larger or unusual formations we have monitored considering that we had the aircraft carrier with six warships, destroyers and frigates escorting her and two support vessels,” Trinidad told reporters.
“They were monitored first roughly hundred nautical miles northwest of Burgos, Ilocos Norte and we kept monitoring them until they were almost within the bounds of our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) on the western part of Cagayan as yesterday evening.” Aside from the aircraft carrier Shandong (CV-17), also spotted were six warships and two support vessels. “The closest to our islands in the north was roughly three nautical miles while this is quite close but these are allowed under UNCLOS under the right of innocent passage provided that it is continuous and expeditious,” said Trinidad.
Further, Trinidad said that the Navy issued a radio challenge to the warships but did not receive any reply. “Again, we do not speculate on the intention of their warships in our waters, what we do is we challenge them, we monitor them, to ensure that they traverse continuously and expeditiously,” he said. Philippine Navy spokesperson Captain John Percie Alcos earlier said this is the first time that their assets have monitored the Chinese aircraft carrier in the area.
“They're actually conducting normal naval operations en route to a specific destination that we still do not know. Their passage was expeditious,” Alcos said in an ambush interview. The Chinese aircraft carrier was seen as the Philippines, United States, and Japan are set to conduct joint sail on Thursday as part of the annual Balikatan military exercises between Manila and Washington.
In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis." China has not recognized the decision. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA Integrated News.
