Philippines, China Move Closer To Military Confrontation Near Taiwan (Worthy News Briefing)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

MANILA/BEIJING (Worthy News) – The Philippines and China moved closer to military confrontation after Manila deployed one of its largest Coast Guard vessels and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship.

Operating off the northern Batanes province near Taiwan, the Chinese ship was approached by a Chinese Coast Guard vessel that moved in to shield it, officials said.

Manila’s Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) deployed the 97-meter (318-foot) BRP Teresa Magbanua and an Islander aircraft against the Chinese research vessel JIA HAI KE 7. It had remained about 37 nautical miles (68 kilometers/43 miles) northwest of Itbayat Island since September 28.

According to Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, the Coast Guard spokesperson on South China Sea issues, the operation “disrupted the vessel’s unauthorized marine scientific research and compelled it to leave its loitering position.”

Batanes lies in the strategically important Luzon Strait between the Philippines, a key U.S. ally in Asia, and Taiwan. Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory despite the self-governing island functioning as a separate democracy.

COAST GUARD INTERVENES

Tensions reportedly escalated when the Philippine vessel approached to within about 100 yards (91 meters) of the research ship. It then launched a rigid-hull inflatable boat that repeatedly circled the vessel while Philippine personnel issued radio warnings.

Philippine authorities reported that the research vessel repeatedly maneuvered to evade their boats. Chinese Coast Guard vessel CCG-2503 then arrived and moved in to shield it while sending its own radio challenges.

Manila’s vessel subsequently shadowed the Chinese Coast Guard ship while remaining close to the research vessel. A Philippine aircraft also circled the area at low altitude in support of the operation.

PCG officials described the Chinese Coast Guard’s intervention as significant because the research vessel is privately owned. Its involvement raised questions about the vessel’s relationship with Chinese authorities.

“A government law enforcement ship moving to shield a supposedly private research vessel conducting illegal MSR in another country’s exclusive economic zone raises serious questions about who Jia Hai Ke 7 is really working for,” Tarriela stressed.

UNDERSEA CABLE CONCERNS

Philippine authorities are also investigating what information the research ship may have gathered near strategically important undersea communication cables running through the Luzon Strait.

Earlier, the PCG accused the vessel of falsifying, or “spoofing,” its location through its Automatic Identification System (AIS) while operating near Batanes.

Tracking information appeared to show the ship traveling more than 2,000 nautical miles from Xiamen, China, to waters near Papua New Guinea in less than a day. The Coast Guard described such a journey as physically impossible.

A Philippine monitoring station and a Canada-provided detection system instead placed the vessel near Itbayat, Worthy News learned.

China rejected Manila’s accusations, saying the research ship was “conducting normal operations in waters under China’s jurisdiction” and accusing Philippine authorities of harassment.

CHINA REJECTS CLAIMS

Worthy News monitoring showed that the research ship entered service last year. It is described as China’s first privately owned research vessel equipped with technology allowing it to maintain a precise position while carrying out marine geological surveys.

Beijing maintains that China and the Philippines have overlapping maritime claims in the area. China argues that the dispute should be settled through negotiations under provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

However, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs rejected China’s assertion Friday that Beijing has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the waters off Batanes.

Philippine officials said the research ship was operating within the country’s exclusive economic zone. Manila had not authorized it to conduct scientific research there.

Under UNCLOS, coastal states have jurisdiction over marine scientific research within their exclusive economic zones. Such research generally requires their consent.

MARITIME TENSIONS RISE

Amid the escalating tensions, the Chinese research vessel had left the position where it had been operating by Thursday noon, according to Philippine authorities. Coast Guard personnel continued monitoring its movements to ensure it left the country’s exclusive economic zone, officials said.

Yet Thursday’s incident added another potentially volatile dimension to already strained relations between Beijing and Manila. Most recent confrontations have centered farther south in the disputed South China Sea. Batanes, by contrast, sits immediately south of Taiwan in the strategically crucial Luzon Strait.

The latest encounter appeared to further escalate the increasingly volatile China-Philippines dispute over maritime rights and vital undersea infrastructure in one of the Indo-Pacific region’s most strategically sensitive waterways.

These tensions are also closely followed in the United States as Washington and Manila are bound by a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.

The United States has previously affirmed that the pact extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft, including Coast Guard vessels, in the South China Sea.