‘Mischief Reef being used as staging ground’
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
