China 'monster ship' passed through 12 WPS features —PCG

China Coast Guard (CCG) 5901, the world's largest coast guard ship known as "The Monster," passed through 12 features of the West Philippines Sea (WPS) in the past 10 days, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Thursday.

In a statement, PCG spokesperson for the WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said the China’s vessel was tracked traversing the waters of the following features:

• Parola Island
• Pagasa Island
• Zamora Reef
• Bayani Bank
• Union Bank
• Kagitingan Reef
• Rizal Reef
• Panganiban Reef
• Lawak Island 
• Patag Island
• Escoda Shoal
• Bajo De Masinloc

The PCG was able to track the movement of the Chinese ship using Canada's dark vessel detection technology, according to Tarriela.

“On June 17th, CCG 5901 departed from Hainan and directly encroached upon the territorial waters of the Philippine-occupied features of Parola and Pagasa, violating our sovereignty,” Tarriela said.

The Chinese ship entered Zamora Reef and stayed overnight before moving to Bayani and Union Banks.

On June 20, CCG 5901 proceeded to Kagitingan Reef where it “possibly resupplied for logistics” and then moved to Malaysia and Brunei’s exclusive economic zones, according to the PCG.

“She once again headed north and entered the Philippine EEZ once more. She passed through Rizal Reef and made a supply stop at Panganiban Reef on June 23rd,” Tarriela said.

“The following day, she continued to navigate within the Philippines EEZ, selectively passing through Lawak and Patag, and then making a quick southeasterly turn to pass through Escoda Shoal,” he added.

After this, the Chinese vessel went to the waters of El Nido, Palawan with a close distance of 34 nautical miles from its coastline.

From there, it made a quick turn towards Bajo De Masinloc, where it joined three other CCG vessels that were deployed in the area. After spending a few hours loitering at BDM, CCG 5901 sailed back towards Hainan,” Tarriela said.

As of 8 a.m. on Thursday,  Tarriela said CCG 5901 was last monitored 46 nautical miles southeast of Sanya, Hainan.

The voyage of China’s Monster ship in the WPS started following the violent incident in Ayungin Shoal involving Chinese and Filipino personnel on June 17.

A Philippine Navy sailor lost his thumb and several others were injured after CCG personnel repeatedly rammed Philippine Navy rubber boats to stop them from delivering food supplies, firearms, and other necessities to BRP Sierra Madre located in the area.

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. described the Ayungin incident as a "deliberate and illegal action" done by Chinese forces.

“It’s not armed, walang pumutok. Hindi tayo tinutukan ng baril but it was a deliberate action to stop our people. But in the process of that, kinuhanan tayo they boarded Philippine vessel and took the equipment from the Philippine vessel,” Marcos told reporters on Thursday. 

(It's not an armed attack, no shots were fired and none was pointed at us, but it's a deliberate action to stop our people. But in the process of that, they boarded a Philippine vessel and took the equipment)

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its territorial claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Manila refers parts of the waters within its exclusive economic zone as the West Philippine Sea.

In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague ruled that China's claims over the South China Sea had no legal basis, a decision Beijing does not recognize.

Marcos, meanwhile, said the Philippines should do more than just file protests against Chinese aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea.

"We have how many? We have over a hundred protests. We have already made a similar number of demarche, so we have to do more than just that," said the President. —VAL, GMA Integrated News