By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
THE Philippine Navy on Thursday said it monitored a Chinese aircraft carrier, six escort ships and a spy ship near the country’s northernmost islands on Tuesday, describing their passage as “unusual” and marking their closest recorded approach to Philippine shores.
The Philippines tracked a Shandong-class aircraft carrier alongside six destroyer and frigate escort ships and two support vessels near Batanes province, with the carrier ship being detected as close as 3 nautical miles (5.6 kilometers) southwest of Babuyan Islands, Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent T. Trinidad told reporters on the sidelines of a maritime security forum in Manila.
The vessels were last seen 180 nautical miles east of the northern Philippine province of Cagayan on Wednesday night, he added.
The navy also tracked a separate Type 815 Chinese surveillance ship that sailed about 33 nautical miles northwest of Dalupiri Island, also part of Batanes province, navy spokesman John Percie Alcos told reporters at the same event.
Naval forces based off northern Philippines deployed undisclosed naval assets to monitor the ships and challenged their presence, he said.
“We expect a lot of vessels to transit that particular area, especially off the coast of Babuyan Islands and Dalupiri Island because they are a recognized maritime corridor,” he added.
It is unclear if the Chinese vessel’s passage was a risk to national security as they passed by “expeditiously,” he said. “It is within our territorial waters, but we cannot say for certain if they posed a real threat.”
“While the normal procedure is for a warship or foreign ship to reply, there are some instances when they do not respond,” Mr. Trinidad said. “This is one particular instance where the Shandong carrier battle group did not provide any reply at the moment it was challenged.”
The 305-meter Chinese aircraft carrier, which can carry 30 military aircraft, and the 130-meter spy ship sailed near the Philippine islands where upcoming Manila-Washington military drills are set to take place, in which US mobile anti-ship missile systems will participate.
Philippine and US forces on Monday started their three-week, annual Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercise set to be staged near key locations facing regional flashpoints like the South China Sea and Taiwan.
“With the Balikatan exercise ongoing, we also expect several key players to be there also to monitor the exercise,” Mr. Alcos said.
The Chinese government on Monday criticized the joint military drills, saying advanced weaponry deployed by a “country outside the region” could jeopardize regional stability, alluding to the US.
The US military has brought a variety of advanced weaponry for the drills to enhance military preparedness and interoperability, including mobile anti-ship missile systems, portable artillery rocket systems and short-range air defense platforms, while making use of a mid-range capability missile battery that remained in the Philippines after last year’s exercises.
SOUTH CHINA SEA CODEOn the sidelines of the same forum, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are “politically committed” to finalize by next year a code of conduct for the South China Sea.
There still remains a need to clarify the scope and nature of the proposed code of conduct, including how it aligns with a 2002 declaration of principles, since the issue remains a “contentious” matter in the region, he added.
“We are all politically committed to achieving, having a code by next year,” he told reporters. “We hope to have it, and we will do all that we can to try and achieve a successful negotiation.”
The Philippines is set to host the ASEAN summit next year.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
ASEAN and Beijing pledged in 2002 to come up with a code of conduct on the South China Sea, a framework that seeks to prevent conflict through diplomatic means but it has remained elusive due to slow progress.
The South China Sea has become a regional flashpoint as Beijing continues to assert sovereignty over almost the entire sea, seen as a vital global trade route that is believed to be also rich in undersea gas and oil deposits.
Philippine and Chinese forces have repeatedly sparred over competing claims in the sea, with tensions flaring around disputed maritime features such as the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
Beijing has deployed an armada of coast guard vessels to protect what it considers its territory despite a 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling saying that its claim is illegal.
Meanwhile, Mr. Manalo said the Department of Foreign Affairs is “continuously monitoring” the Filipinos accused of spying by the Chinese government.
“As far as I understand, they are still under investigation,” he said. “But our officials there in China are closely watching and monitoring any developments.”
China’s Ministry of State Security apprehended three Filipinos accused of engaging in spying activities, with their arrests deemed as “according to law,” Beijing’s Global Times reported early this month. They were accused of “intelligence-gathering” and conducting “covert intelligence missions” in mainland China.
“Our fellow countrymen are not spies,” Party-list Rep. Percival V. Cendaña said in a statement in Filipino. “They are innocent migrant workers.”
“It’s clear that China is retaliating for the arrest of their spies on our soil. They’ve stooped to a shameful ‘hostage diplomacy,’” he added.
Their arrest came after Philippine authorities earlier this year apprehended a number of Chinese nationals accused of spying on joint Philippine-US military sites, the presidential palace and national headquarters of the country’s military and police.
Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. on Wednesday said the Philippines neither has interest nor the capabilities to spy on mainland China, and is only focused on monitoring the South China Sea.
Mr. Cendaña said the Philippine government should issue a travel advisory and risk alert for Filipinos going to China and suspend its sister-city agreements with Chinese metropolises.
