The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is investigating a Chinese vessel carrying unidentified equipment inside the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, as China’s military steps up patrols around the disputed feature.
“We’re trying to track what is the capability of this watercraft,” Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, the PCG’s spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, told state broadcaster PTV. He said the PCG would like to believe it is one of the support vessels used by the Chinese government.
The PCG first monitored the vessel on October 3, and its configuration has changed several times since. During a maritime domain awareness flight on October 29, PCG personnel saw it towing a smaller boat and carrying an orange, boat-shaped object fitted with sensors and antennas, The Manila Times reported.
The coast guard is examining what the equipment can do, including whether it could support underwater operations, and has not established its function. It cautioned against calling the ship a research vessel because its bow and IMO numbers do not match known Chinese research ships.
The same flight tracked three China Coast Guard ships, five Chinese maritime militia vessels, and a Chinese navy warship in the area, the coast guard said.
Scarborough Shoal, called Bajo de Masinloc by Manila and Huangyan Dao by Beijing, lies about 124 nautical miles west of Zambales, inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. The waters have seen repeated confrontations, including a Chinese water cannon attack on a Philippine ship in July. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its claim has no legal basis.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said its naval and air forces conducted combat-readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace around the shoal on October 30 and had strengthened such patrols since early October. It called them “a necessary countermeasure in response to the Philippines’ rights violation and provocative acts.” The China Coast Guard said it conducted law enforcement patrols there the same day. The claims could not be independently verified.
In March, Manila accused a Chinese navy ship of provocative target tracking of a Philippine ship near Sabina Shoal. The PCG said its assessment of the vessel’s equipment is continuing.