PCG: Chinese Maritime Militia 'swarming' Rozul Reef

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said that at least 50 Chinese Militia Vessels (CMM) are swarming in Rozul Reef in the West Philippine Sea.

“The Chinese Maritime Militia has been used by the Chinese government for a lot of reasons… They want to assert their claims dito sa mga area na ito na unoccupied na mga coastal states," said PCG Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela.

(The Chinese maritime militia has been used by the Chinese government for a lot of reasons. They want to assert their claims here in the unoccupied coastal states.)

He added that the swarming began on June 17.

"It can also be used as a form of intimidation kasi alam naman natin na ang Rozul Reef is also a fishing area ng ating mga maingisdang Pilipino,” he added.

(We all know that the Rozul Reef is also a fishing area of our Filipino fisherfolk.)

Tarriela clarified that the reef falls 113 nautical miles off the coast of Palawan and within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Photo from PCG

Radio challenge

Tarriela said that two ships and an aircraft had been sent out and radio challenges were made towards the swarm, but that there had been no response from any of the vessels.

“We informed them that their presence, their regular movement, and their swarming activities and anchoring activities do not confirm itong freedom of navigation, and this kind of behavior basically violate our sovereign rights in our own exclusive economic zone," said Tarriela.

"We keep on challenging them to tell us their intention and to depart immediately. But unfortunately, sa dami ng Chinese maritime militia vessels na ito, wala ni isa sa kanila ang nag-responde sa ating aircraft and even for the Philippine Coast Guard vessels," he added. 

(Despite the number of these Chinese maritime militia vessels, not one of them responded to our aircraft or even the Philippine Coast Guard vessels.)

Tarriela said this was not the first time Chinese vessels swarmed in the area, as there had been previous swarms of less than 30 vessels.

“Siguro they are monitoring what are the activities of the Coast Guard and even the armed forces in these areas. So there are diverse reasons that we can speculate what's the real intent, but one thing is clear here, the presence of all these Chinese maritime militia is actually a violation of UNCLOS,” emphasized Tarriela.

“I think our approach in exposing such illegal behavior of the People's Republic of China might as well convince China to pull out all this Chinese maritime militia because, again, this is a clear violation of international law.” —VAL, GMA Integrated News