January 3, 2025 | 11:52am
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy said it did not monitor the presence of China’s largest Coast Guard vessel in Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) in the South China Sea on New Year’s Day.
“Based on the monitoring of the Philippine Navy, Naval Forces Northern Luzon, and Naval Forces West covering Bajo de Masinloc, we did not detect any such vessel on January 1 in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc,” said Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, speaking to Radyo DZBB on Friday, January 3.
Trinidad added that the Navy’s monitoring is not just ship-based. “We have different sensors that are not limited to maritime assets, so our reports are not solely based on vessel sightings,” he said.
The Navy’s statement follows a week of heightened military activity at Scarborough Shoal, a maritime feature within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone that China seized from the Philippines in 2012 after a tense standoff.
Stanford University’s SeaLight project director Ray Powell earlier reported the arrival of the 12,000-ton Chinese Coast Guard vessel 5901 — dubbed “The Monster” for its imposing size — on Wednesday, January 1.
Powell’s tracking data revealed three additional Coast Guard vessels (CCG 3106, 3302, and 3305) and seven militia ships.
????????”The Monster”–the 12K-ton China Coast Guard 5901–arrived at Scarborough Shoal on Jan 1, joining CCG 3106, 3302, 3305 & at least 7 militia ships, further boosting #China‘s control over this important fishing ground just 120nm from the ????????#Philippines‘ coast. pic.twitter.com/OHxPsOJuzf
— Ray Powell (@GordianKnotRay) January 2, 2025
The Monster is the largest Coast Guard vessel in the world and was regularly spotted in waters the Philippines has sovereignty over in 2024.
A day before, the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command conducted “combat readiness patrols” around the hotly contested feature. A press release from China’s ministry of defense said the forces have been directed to “continuously strengthen maritime and airspace patrols” around Huangyan Dao, the term China uses to refer to the shoal.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled that China’s claims of “historic rights” in the South China Sea had no legal basis. The tribunal also found that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights by interfering with Filipino fishing and petroleum exploration activities in the country’s own EEZ.
In November, China drew fresh criticism after declaring baseline coordinates around Scarborough Shoal, a move the Philippines’ National Maritime Council declared illegal under international law and the 2016 arbitral award.
Beijing released its map of coordinates around the shoal after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which defines the country’s maritime boundaries under international law. China strongly objected to the law.
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