China chopper’s moves vs PH plane over Bajo de Masinloc ‘dangerous’ -PCG

A Chinese military helicopter conducted dangerous maneuvers near a Philippine aircraft over Bajo de Masinloc on Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported.

PCG Spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said a Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) aircraft was conducting a maritime domain awareness flight around 7 a.m. when the incident occurred.

Coast Guard personnel and photojournalists were onboard when a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-Navy) helicopter, tail number 68, approached at 8:39 a.m., coming as close as three meters to the BFAR aircraft’s port side and above it.

"This reckless action posed a serious risk to the safety of the pilots and passengers," Tarriela said, adding that the PLA-Navy violated International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations.

Despite China's escalatory actions, Tarriela said the PCG and BFAR remain committed to asserting Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights, and maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.

Meanwhile, the Chinese military's Southern Theatre Command told the Reuters news agency that a Philippine plane "intruded" into China's airspace over Scarborough Shoal.

Furthermore, the command alleged that the move by the Philippines severely "violated" China's sovereignty, adding that the Chinese military organized naval and air forces to track, monitor, and drive away the plane.

Bajo de Masinloc, 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales, falls within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

However, China continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea, despite overlapping claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

To reinforce its territorial claim, the Philippine government refers to its portion of the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea, covering the Luzon Sea, the Kalayaan Island Group, and Bajo de Masinloc.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s claims in the South China Sea had “no legal basis.” 

However, Beijing refuses to recognize the ruling. — DVM, GMA Integrated News