Chinese coast guard ship tails Philippine patrol boat as it drives a foreign fishing boat from Pag-asa

The Philippine Coast Guard said it drove an unauthorised foreign fishing vessel out of the territorial sea around Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys on Sunday, 25 October, while a China Coast Guard ship and two of its small boats followed the Philippine patrol craft sent to remove it. The coast guard did not give the fishing vessel's nationality in its account, which was published by the Philippine Information Agency.

Personnel stationed on the island spotted the vessel in the morning about 2.7 nautical miles west of Pag-asa, near Sandy Cay, well inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea around the island. The coast guard first issued radio challenges telling the crew to leave the area.

In the afternoon, the PCG sent High-Speed Response Boat HSRB-019 with a law enforcement team on board. The team used a loudhailer to tell the crew that fishing inside the island's territorial sea was not allowed and ordered the vessel out. According to the agency, the patrol boat then escorted the vessel at a safe distance, repeating its warnings until it had left the territorial sea, and returned to Pag-asa without incident.

During the operation, China Coast Guard vessel 21581 and two rigid-hull inflatable boats, which the PCG says have kept up a presence near the island, tailed HSRB-019 and watched the Philippine team at work. The PCG said its personnel finished the job unhindered. It repeated its position that the China Coast Guard has no lawful authority to act as a police force inside Pag-asa's territorial sea, and said the Chinese ship's continued presence was being monitored and documented.

Chinese coast guard ships were more confrontational in the same waters earlier this month. On 4 October, the PCG said two China Coast Guard vessels sounded their horns at, shadowed and blocked a Philippine team chasing a suspected dynamite-fishing boat near the Sandy Cays, while a PLA Navy helicopter circled overhead, according to a Reuters report carried by Interaksyon. The Philippine team broke off the pursuit for safety reasons as the boat headed toward Subi Reef, one of seven artificial islands China has built in the Spratlys.

Sunday's operation was the seventh in less than four weeks in which the coast guard has pushed foreign vessels out of the Kalayaan Island Group, the PCG said. Earlier cases included Chinese maritime militia vessel 9622 and its sampans, removed from waters off Kota Island on 28 September and again on 9 October, five foreign fishing boats chased from Kota on 11 October, and the Chinese fishing vessel Yuetaiyu 63168 and four small boats sent away from Lawak Island on 15 October. Single foreign fishing boats were driven from Kota on 18 October and from Lawak on 23 October.

Pag-asa, known internationally as Thitu, is the seat of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan province and is home to a Filipino civilian community. It is the largest of the nine features the Philippines holds in the Spratlys and lies about 450 kilometres from the Philippine mainland, Reuters has reported. The PCG said unauthorised foreign fishing in the island's territorial sea breaches the Philippine Fisheries Code and the Philippine Maritime Zones Act.

The Chronicle reported that the coast guard, led by Commandant Vice Admiral Rommel Supangan, plans to send more high-speed response boats to the island group so it can react faster to intrusions. Manila Standard also reported the plan, saying the extra boats are meant to sustain the coast guard's presence and vigilance in the area.