PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—A fleet of 20 Chinese
fishing vessels believed to be escorted by at least two naval frigates of
the People’s Liberation Army has been deployed around Pag-asa Island in a move
likely to escalate tensions over disputed territories in the Spratly
archipelago between the Philippines and China.
Highly placed sources in the Philippine military
reported that at least 20 Chinese fishing vessels had congregated about 9
kilometers (5 nautical miles) from Pag-asa beginning late Tuesday.
The fishing vessels were accompanied by two naval
frigates of China’s People’s Liberation Army, according to one source who asked
not to be identified for lack of authority to speak on the matter.
Colonel Neil Estrella, spokesperson of the
Western Command, confirmed the Chinese presence near Pag-asa but declined to
give details. He said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) would address the
latest development in the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea (South
China Sea).
“We will let the DFA address that. But yes,
Chinese vessels are there around the island,” Estrella told the Philippine
Daily Inquirer by phone on Wednesday.
A source at the Naval Forces West based here said
that at least four Philippine Navy and Coast Guard vessels were patrolling the
Philippine-claimed territories in the Spratlys.
But like Estrella, the source declined to say how
the Navy would respond to a Chinese intrusion into Philippine waters.
Pag-asa Island, which measures 32.7 hectares, is
located 480 km off southwestern Palawan. The largest of five islands and islets
in the Spratlys being claimed by the Philippines, Pag-asa has a 1.3-km airstrip
used by the Philippine military to transport troops and supply.
Declared in the late 1970s as a municipality,
Pag-asa has a census population of 150 and a kindergarten school for children
of some 50 families residing there.
Staging ground
The Chinese presence was also confirmed by Mayor
Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan municipality, which includes Pag-asa.
A military source said the Armed Forces of the
Philippines believed that the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef was being used as
the staging ground for the stepped-up presence of China inside Philippine
territory.
China occupied Mischief Reef in 1995, amid protests
from the Philippines and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Beijing then said that it was constructing a shelter there for fishermen.
Recent photos taken by Philippine naval
surveillance planes showed Mischief Reef had been turned into a highly
fortified garrison, with gun embankments on elevated towers.
Bito-onon said that Filipino
fishermen who had approached Mischief Reef recently by bartering sea turtles
for Chinese goods reported that the Chinese had dredged portions of the reef
ostensibly to allow larger ships into the lagoon within the reef system.
“That entire area measures
around 9 by 6 km with a wide east to west clearance suitable for entry of large
vessels,” he said.
Harvesting corals
Bito-onon, interviewed while
in Puerto Princesa City, reported “frequent sightings since last week
of the Chinese fishing party on the eastern side of the island.”
The mayor said it was unclear
from the report he received yesterday from administrative personnel on the
island whether the fishing fleet was part of the armed fishing party
dispatched by Beijing last week to the Paracels, an area disputed by China and
Vietnam.
“We don’t know if they are
accompanied by warships but for us, it appears to be a coral-gathering
expedition by Chinese commercial fishers,” he said.
Bito-onon explained that
Chinese fishers were frequently observed collecting large amounts of corals in
the unprotected areas of the Philippines.
The corals, he said, were
more valuable than fish “as they are sold in Hainan as some kind of raw
material for the manufacture of a type of marine glue.”
Bito-onon said the Chinese
were also developing Subi Reef near Pag-asa into another fortress. He said that
the Chinese completed in May the construction on a half-submerged reef of a four-story
building with a dome-shaped radar on its deck.
Recent aerial photos of Subi
taken by the Western Command, copies of which were obtained by the Inquirer,
showed a “landing ship” type vessel anchored in the inner portion of the reef.
Bito-onon said the Pag-asa
residents did not feel physically threatened by the reported Chinese presence.
He said he expected the vessels to depart after fishing and harvesting corals.
“Our staff have been
observing their movements since last week. What we know is that the Chinese
armed vessels were merely passing through on their way to Subi Reef. I don’t
think they are staying put there,” he said.
Opposite side is
Vietnam’s
Bito-onon, however, expressed
concern about the “coral mining” activities. “They are there not primarily to
fish. We think they are mainly engaged in gathering corals which is a more
lucrative business in Hainan,” he said.
He explained that the corals
were used by the Chinese as base ingredient for some type of marine glue used
in shipbuilding. In the last two weeks, he said several Chinese boats had been
gathering corals around the area.
Bito-onon also claimed that
the Chinese vessels were congregating near Pag-asa “because on the opposite
side are the Vietnamese in Southwest Cay and they have gun emplacements there.”
“They prefer to anchor near
Pag-asa because they are not safe on the Vietnamese side of the passage where
there are large cannons pointed toward the sea,” he added.(Inq.net)
