UNWANTED INTERFERENCE The Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Capones is seen heading back to Pangasinan after keeping watch on Research Vessel Legend. —SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF JAY BATONGBACAL
MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese coast guard vessel has been shadowing a research vessel deployed last month by the Filipino and Taiwanese scientists inside the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.
Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said the Chinese coast guard vessel CCG 5203 was still shadowing the RV Legend as shown by a screenshot of the interface of Marine Traffic website as of 6 a.m.
Both vessels were heading north-northeast, about 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers) off Pangasinan.
“CCG 5203 has no right to interfere with a Philippine-government authorized MSR (marine scientific research) activity conducted with Taiwan,” Batongbacal said.
“CCG 5203’s interference is another example of how [China] continues to attempt to enforce its arbitrary and excessive nine-dash-line claim, seeking to deny the [Philippines] even the right to conduct its own marine scientific research in its own waters,” he added.
According to Batongbacal, the MSR was being conducted within the 200-nautical mile (370-km) EEZ of the Philippines “and is firmly under Philippine jurisdiction.”
BRP Capones, a Parola-class patrol vessel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which was supposed to keep watch of RV Legend, was just 10 nautical miles (18.5 km) away. But Batongbacal said it appeared to be heading back to Pangasinan after staying with the RV Legend on Thursday.
UP, Taiwan project
The Inquirer tried but failed to reach Commodore Armando Balilo, spokesperson for the PCG, for comment.
The ongoing offshore survey is a project of the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences (UP-NIGS) and the National Central University in Taiwan aimed at mapping offshore faults and other geologic features that could set off future earthquakes, tsunamis and other potentially catastrophic hazards in the region.
The monthlong research is partly funded by the Department of Science and Technology and will end on April 13.
Cause for concern
The Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday that a Chinese coast guard ship maneuvered about 2 to 3 nautical miles (3 to 5 km) for days from the RV Legend, while the Taiwanese research vessel was straddling the undersea Manila Trench from March 25 to March 30 off Vigan City in Ilocos Sur.
“Its proximity to the research vessel was cause for concern especially when the research vessel was towing a streamer cable for the scientific measurements that were being done,” according to professor Carla Dimalanta of the UP-NIGS and assistant vice president for academic affairs (research).
The Manila Trench, which runs off the western coast of the main northern Philippine island of Luzon in the fringes of the South China Sea has long been an area of concern because of the potential disaster it could unleash if it generated a major earthquake and tsunami.
It is located about 60 to 120 km from the west coast of Luzon. It has a maximal depth of 5,400 meters and was created by the subduction of the Eurasian Plate (through its part Sunda Plate) under the Philippine Sea Plate. —WITH A REPORT FROM AP INQ