A CHINESE research vessel was monitored on Monday conducting “survey-in-force” just 27 nautical miles from the Philippines’ coastline, according to a maritime transparency project that monitors and reports activities in the South China Sea.
United States Air Force Col. Ray Powell (ret.), director of SeaLight, said Haiyang Dizhi 12 Hao was escorted by six Qiong Sansha Yu militia ships while it was conducting survey activities inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Powell said that the undertaking requires the permission of the country in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities.
He noted that the ships have not yet entered into a typical “lawnmower” survey pattern, which is normally used for hydrographic surveys of the sea floor.
“So it may be [that] they are simply there to send a message that China claims these waters – much as they did last year to Vietnam,” Powell said.
The SeaLight director was referring to the incident last year when Chinese survey vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 spent nearly a month in Vietnam’s oil and gas fields from May to June 2023 and was also escorted by “an unusually heavy screening force of China Coast Guard and maritime militia ships.”
“We were all left to wonder what was being accomplished besides an especially brazen illegal survey in another country’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone,” Powell said.
Haiyang Dizhi 12 Hao was the same Chinese vessel that was also monitored, along with two other research vessels, Haiyang Dizhi Jiuhao and Song Hang, in the eastern seaboard of the Philippine Sea last Sept 15.
There have been numerous sightings of Chinese research vessels in the vicinity near the Philippines’ coastline in the past months.
Last month, the Chinese research ship Ke Xue San Hao was monitored exploring reefs and shoals just 74 kilometers west of Palawan.
After several days, the vessel was detected sailing south of Recto Bank.
The Philippine government had warned that countries whose vessels are found conducting marine scientific research (MSR) activities in Philippine waters without the necessary clearances would be subject to diplomatic protests.
The last MSR application was granted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in December 2017 for China and involved research activities in North Eastern Luzon and Mindanao.
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