DFA only allowed Jia Geng to seek shelter, not to stay: Locsin

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) only allowed Chinese research vessel, Jia Geng, to “seek shelter” upon the emergency request of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, but “not to stay”, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. clarified Tuesday.

In a tweet, the top diplomat said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has “zero authority” to allow the vessel to stay in Philippine waters.

“[The] DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) never gave a permit to Jia Geng. But for humanitarian considerations, we ok’d Chinese embassy request for shelter against bad weather. The Coast Guard has zero authority/competence to allow it. Only DFA. Not to stay. But seek shelter. Period,” Locsin said in a tweet.

Jia Geng, which had been previously spotted operating in the West Philippine Sea, hogged headlines on Monday after it entered the municipal waters of Catanduanes, apparently due to “unfavorable weather and sea conditions” from its point of origin in the Pacific.

The PCG said Jia Geng dropped anchor off Catanduanes waters for three nights from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 to wait out the gale warning in the area to be lifted. It left the country at 6 a.m. Monday and was escorted by the PCG out of the Philippine waters.

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In a succeeding tweet, Locsin revealed that the Chinese ship was already inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as early as Wednesday, Jan. 27.

He said the Philippine Embassy in Beijing only reported on Thursday, Jan. 28, a phoned-in request to allow the vessel to “take wind shelter in Cabugao Bay”.

The DFA then received on Friday, Jan. 29, a note verbale from the Chinese Embassy in Manila for the same request. The ship got the “go-signal” for wind shelter on Jan. 31.

“They (Jia Geng) were in PH (Philippine) EEZ on Wed 27 Jan. On Thursday, 28 Jan. [the] Chinese vessel gave verbal notice for refuge,” he said.

“On Friday, official note from Chinese Embassy. PCG said it gave them (Jia Geng) a radio challenge/attempted to board; Chinese didn’t allow them. So they didn’t. We gave go-signal (for wind shelter) Jan. 31,” he added.

The same Chinese vessel had been monitored conducting activities within the country’s EEZ in 2020 consistent with a ship undertaking a research expedition.

Last April 2020, it was detected entering the country’s EEZ, reportedly within the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and the Bajo de Masinloc in various periods until May 18, 2020.

According to a source at the DFA, Jia Geng “has been found to intrude in Philippine EEZ in the past and has been a subject of a previous diplomatic protest”.