Manila, Philippines - The United States understood that a large Chinese maritime patrol ship bound for Singapore was on a “routine, planned visit,” according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
China has dispatched the Haixun-31 on a first-ever visit to the Southeast Asian city-state amid a spike in tensions over disputed territory in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.
Nuland reiterated at a news conference that the disputes should be resolved through negotiations.
Malacañang also acknowledged that Haixun-31 was “a civilian ship that is on its way to Singapore.”
“So it’s something that happens ordinarily and there’s no cause for alarm,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
The Haixun-31 will stay in Singapore for two weeks of exchanges on search and rescue, anti-piracy and port management operations, Chinese state media reported Thursday.
Similar ships have been accused of harassing foreign shipping in the South China Sea, including US Navy surveillance vessels.
China, Vietnam and the Philippines have traded diplomatic barbs recently over claims to the resource-rich West Philippine Sea and South China Sea and their island groups. Vietnam’s navy conducted live-firing exercises Monday after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in its waters.
The 3,000-ton, helicopter-equipped Haixun-31 is one of two vessels of that size belonging to the Maritime Safety Administration, one of five nominally civilian agencies tasked with overseeing China’s interests at sea. All of those departments are undergoing major expansions as Beijing moves to assert its territorial claims and economic interests in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with Japan and Taiwan.
In coming years, three dozen vessels will be added to the fleet, an unnamed official with the State Oceanic Administration, another of the five agencies, announced last year. Defense experts say the People’s Liberation Army Navy, which is also undergoing a thorough upgrade, has been gradually strengthening its command over the maritime patrol agencies, boosting their armaments and improving coordination.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it has dispatched two vessels to Palawan in case the Navy seeks its help in removing “foreign markers” in the Spratly Islands group.
“The PCG would extend help especially regarding the exclusive economic zone since we have the right over the EEZ. So if other people do not have a permit to develop anything, we would remove them (unwanted structures). We would assist if we are needed,” PCG commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag said.
The vessels are the BRP EDSA and an unnamed maritime control and surveillance ship, which the PCG operates with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
“The PCG would be there on standby to perform its mandated and deputized functions of BFAR against illegal fishing,” PCG spokesman Lieutenant Commander Algier Ricafrente added.
Kalayaan, Palawan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr., for his part, reported increasing activities of Chinese warships near Palawan.
“These Chinese gunboats have been prowling in our territorial waters in the West Philippine Sea since their illegal occupation of the Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef) in 1994,” Bito-onon told The STAR in phone interview.
“Since their illegal occupation of the Panganiban Reef these Chinese ships have increased the frequency of maritime patrols within the country’s territorial waters, accosting and driving our fishermen away,” he said.
“Our gunboats dispatched to intercept these Chinese vessels were no match because the Chinese ships were all high-speed. They’re like slicing the ocean with their speed,” Bito-onon said. – AP, Evelyn Macairan, Delon Porcalla, Jaime Laude