China warships use lasers anew

2 BFAR vessels targeted by Chinese Navy in latest harassments effort

China’s warships tailed two vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and one of the ships pointed lasers at a plane of the same agency endangering its crew’s safety, according to the National Maritime Council (NMC).

The NMC said the incident happened near Hasa-Hasa Shoal [Half Moon Shoal] during a maritime patrol of the BFAR in the West Philippine Sea.

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“Lasers when pointed directly at the eyes of a pilot can cause temporary blindness. It is dangerous in a way since the safety is (compromised) when the vision of the pilot is impaired,” said NMC spokesperson Alexander Lopez.

In response, BFAR pilots issued a radio challenge to the Chinese missile boat but it did not answer.

The two warships  of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China tailed BFAR’s BRP Datu Matanam Taradapit and BRP Datu Romapenet.

Aside from this, China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 21555 was also spotted in the area.

The CCG ship was the one that damaged Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Bagacay and BFAR’s BRP Sanday in previous incidents.

Meanwhile, the Philippines will not abandon Ayungin Shoal and its grounded ship there, the BRP Sierra Madre, the country’s armed forces chief said on Monday.

AFP Chief General Romeo Brawner Jr, the military’s stand was part of their three-front strategy on the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“First, we have to maintain our physical presence and the only way to do that is to maintain our military post in Ayungin Shoal, particularly on BRP Sierra Madre,” he said.

Brawner also emphasized the importance of modernizing the country’s defense posture.

“Second, is to develop a credible deterrent, the way we do this is to modernizing  the AFP, it’s very important that we modernize AFP that is  world class, right now I can say that AFP is already a world class, we have the best human resources, best soldiers, this already proven our troops went abroad to join exercises when they excel,” he said.

“What is lacking however is platforms, we already have modern platforms but we need more of this. We are calling on our Congress to fund our modernization, but at the same time, Secretary Gibo Teodoro is also looking for other means to fund our modernization.”

Finally, he pointed to the establishment of strong relations with allies and other like- minded nations.

“Our modernization program is very ambitious, we have to be ambitious to create a deterrent,” Brawner said.

He also vows to modernize the Armed Forces in the next five years.