By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Saying that the two Chinese research vessels were out of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as of Saturday (2 March 2024) after an approximately three-day passage, Philippine Navy spokesperson Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad on Sunday said the sighting of these at the Philippine Rise “is not a cause of concern.”
He pointed out that the vessels might have only conducted “a normal transit passage.”
“It is not a cause of concern kasi based on UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), authorized naman dumaan sa exclusive economic zone ng isang coastal state ang maritime traffic,” Trinidad told ABS-CBN News in a phone interview.
He revealed that the vessels were last spotted 600 nautical miles east of Casiguran or beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone, as of Sunday morning (3 March 2024).
Dr. Chester Cabalza, founding president of think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), explained that the UNCLOS allows innocent passage of foreign vessels in the waters in an EEZ as long as they do not participate in proprietary activities reserved for the coastal state, such as fishing or conducting research, without permission.
In a post on X, former United States Air Force official and ex-Defense Attaché Ray Powell earlier said the Chinese vessels Haiyang Dizhi Liuhao and Haiyang Dizhi Shihao sailed from Longque Island in Guangzhou province on February 26 and moved east-southeast through the Luzon Strait.
“As of 1 March they are loitering east of Luzon in the NE (Northeast) corner of Benham (Philippine) Rise, which is in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone,” Powell claimed.
(el Amigo/MNM)
