Philippine military tracks 27 Chinese coast guard and PLA Navy ships in a week

The Armed Forces of the Philippines tracked 27 Chinese government ships at four disputed features in the West Philippine Sea between 6 and 12 October, a mix of China Coast Guard cutters and People's Liberation Army Navy warships, the military's spokesperson for the area said on Tuesday.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the armed forces spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, gave the figures as part of the military's weekly monitoring of Chinese vessels in waters the Philippines claims under the 2016 arbitral award, which China rejects. The breakdown covered four features and did not give ship names or hull numbers, or say how many of the vessels were present at the same time.

Where the ships were

The largest concentration was at Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, where the military counted eight coast guard ships and four navy vessels. At Ayungin Shoal, the site of the grounded Philippine outpost BRP Sierra Madre, it counted five coast guard ships and four navy vessels. Three coast guard ships and two navy vessels were near Pag-asa Island, the largest Philippine-held feature in the Spratlys, and one navy ship was at Escoda Shoal.

By that count, PLA Navy ships made up 11 of the 27 vessels, or about two in five, underlining that the Chinese presence at these features is not limited to law-enforcement ships. The Philippine military said it continues to watch over the country's territory and sovereignty in line with international law and with the aim of keeping peace and stability in the region.

Context

The weekly figure follows a monthly tally of 101 Chinese naval and coast guard vessels at the same four features in September, which Trinidad said was nearly double the 56 monitored in August. In that September count, 32 of the 101 were PLA Navy ships: 14 at Bajo de Masinloc, nine at Ayungin Shoal, five near Pag-asa and four at Escoda Shoal. The weekly and monthly counts cover different periods and are not directly comparable, but the navy's share this week, about two in five, was higher than September's roughly one in three.

The week also saw the Chinese maritime militia ship CMMV 9622 return on 9 October to waters near Kota Island, a Philippine-held feature in the Kalayaan Island Group, with 22 small boats, 11 days after it was last reported there. Philippine coast guard, marine and navy personnel responded, and the national task force for the West Philippine Sea said all the Chinese vessels left the island's territorial sea.

The steady pairing of PLA Navy ships with coast guard cutters at all four features suggests Beijing is backing its law-enforcement presence with naval forces rather than relying on coast guard ships alone to assert its claims.