MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday raised concern over a Chinese research vessel monitored loitering within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Batanes, saying it could be surveying subsea cables and using spoofed location signals to evade authorities.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela identified the vessel as Jia Hai Ke 7, which was spotted during a maritime domain awareness (MDA) flight on Monday.
The aerial patrols were joined by Tarriela, National Security Council Deputy Director-General Nestor Herico, Batanes Vice Governor Jonathan Enrique Nanud Jr., and Basco Mayor German Caccam.
Tarriela said the vessel left Fujian, China, on September 21, based on its Automatic Identification System (AIS) data.
It was monitored 38 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat on Monday morning.
However, the vessel’s AIS signal was now showing a location in Papua New Guinea.
“It means that the Chinese government is once again using AIS spoofing to confuse the authorities as to where their Chinese vessels are,” Tarriela said.
“In short, they are fooling the various governments of the world that are going through this Chinese research vessel. The intent really is to fool the authorities so that this Chinese research vessel will not be challenged,” he said.
During the MDA flight, the PCG aircraft issued three radio challenges, but the vessel did not respond.
“What worries us, based on the open source, what this Chinese research vessel is doing is to look for subsea cables,” Tarriela said.
He added that the PCG would report the vessel’s presence to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) and inform the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Tarriela said he would recommend to PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan to deploy a Coast Guard vessel to challenge and drive away the research vessel.
FIRST OF ITS KIND MONITORED IN BATANES
According to Tarriela, the PCG has monitoring capabilities in Itbayat, Basco, and Mavulis, which are shared with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), allowing authorities to track foreign research vessels passing through the area.
“Yes, this is our first time to monitor this type of Chinese research vessel. I think this is the first time that we have seen this Jia Hai Ke 7 with such capability of investigating subsea cables,” the official said.
He added that Chinese research vessels had been regularly spotted in Batanes in recent months.
“This is the reason why our deployment of aircraft and even Coast Guard vessels is more frequent to directly challenge and to prevent China from normalizing what they say is a conspiracy that Batanes belongs to the People's Republic of China,” Tarriela said.
The PCG spokesperson questioned the research activities of Chinese vessels, saying information gathered by Chinese scientific institutions could be shared with the country's military.
“Some of them are claiming that what they are doing is actually related to a Chinese scientific institute or universities that conduct scientific research. But we know that even the public universities in the Chinese government [are] basically part of the Chinese government and everything that they are growing together can immediately be shared with the PLA Navy and China Coast Guard,” he said.
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‘GALIT ANG MGA IVATAN’
Batanes Provincial Administrator Celso Batallones said the Chinese research vessel’s presence was concerning, particularly amid claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes belongs to China.
“Talagang nakakabahala sa probinsya natin dahil parang binabalewala yung territorial integrity natin. Kung kaya't kailangan namin mas madalas ang patrolya natin dito para mamonitor at magkaroon ng deterrence sa mga ganitong ginagawa nila,” Batallones told reporters.
He also expressed anger over the claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes does not belong to the Philippines.
“Ay, galit kami. Kami po'y galit. Dahil ang foundation day namin is 1744 and never na lumitaw na pag-aari ng China ito. So, talagang galit ang Ivatan. Ivatan talaga ang galit,” he said.
Batallones said the presence of foreign vessels is not immediately felt in residents’ daily lives because they could not see the ships.
However, reports and photographs showing vessels within Philippine waters cause concern, given the province’s small size and limited facilities.
“Sa liit ng isla natin at saka mga facilities natin dito, medyo nakakabahala din,” he said.
The official added that the local government was confident with the PCG’s presence and called for more frequent patrols and improvements to the province’s shelter port to accommodate vessels that could remain on standby for maritime patrols.
“Ang request po namin, medyo madalas-dalas yung pagpapatrolya natin… At pangalawa po, kailangan mapaganda ang shelter port namin para naman mayroomg isang nakaantabay dito na vessel na magpapatrolya. Kasi medyo mababaw siya, yung entrance niya mababaw, kaya kailangan pagandahin. Nandun din yung Navy. Yun ang importante sa amin,” Batallones said.
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