A week after they were first spotted, over 100 suspected Chinese maritime militia (CMM) vessels were still anchored in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Wednesday.
In a public briefing, PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela said the CMM ships have been sighted in the Julian Felipe Reef since April 22.
“There are still more than 100 Chinese maritime militia in Julian Felipe (Reef),” Tarriela said.
Two Chinese coast guard ships roaming in Ayungin Shoal since April 23 were still lingering in the area.
The PCG reported on April 28 the sighting of more than 100 militia ships during their weeklong maritime patrol in the West Philippine Sea.
The PCG said Chinese vessels were showing aggressive tactics through radio challenges asking Philippine patrol vessels to leave several times and executing dangerous maneuvers that led to a near collision between a PCG ship and a Chinese coast guard vessel.
In July 2016, the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated the nine-dash claims of China covering the entire South China Sea and recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the area within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
Beijing has been ignoring the international ruling and deployed hundreds of militia vessels to harass local fishermen and other boats.
The United States has urged China to respect freedom of navigation and honor the 2016 arbitral ruling.
US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink expressed Washington’s deep concern on China’s “continued intimidation and harassment of Philippine vessels” after its coast guard once again made a dangerous maneuver against its Filipino counterpart.
On April 19 and 23, Chinese vessels had blocked the path of Philippine vessels on patrol mission in the Ayungin Shoal, which led to a near collision between the two ships.
During an online press conference on Wednesday morning (Manila time), Kritenbrink said that such actions and behavior were “truly unacceptable” and the US “will continue to track and monitor those interactions.”
“The best way to prevent such instances in the future would be for the PRC (People’s Republic of China) to make a commitment to uphold the rules-based international order,” Kritenbrink said.
The US official also called on Beijing to respect the “freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and to abide by the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling which of course is binding on both parties.”
“We again call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct,” Kritenbrink said.
He said the US would continue regularly operating in the contested waterway to “demonstrate the principle that all countries should be able to, or are able to fly, sail and operate anywhere where international law allows.”
With a strengthened military alliance between Washington and Manila, the US official also said it was “somewhat puzzling” for China to claim that the Western giant is dragging Manila into conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
Kritenbrink emphasized that the US and the Philippines “share vision for a peaceful and stable region,” so it is concerning for him why China would make such a claim.
“We support the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo by either side and we insist that cross-strait differences be resolved peacefully,” he said.