NSC: PH won’t tolerate Chinese intrusion in territorial waters

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya (File photo: Jonathan Malaya/Facebook)

By Priam Nepomuceno, Raymond dela Cruz, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – A ranking National Security Council (NSC) official on Tuesday said the Philippines is not tolerating the illegal activities of Chinese maritime forces in its territorial waters.

In a press briefing of the National Task Force-West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS), NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said Philippine assets are challenging the presence of Chinese vessels on a daily basis.

“Right now, we have two Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels shadowing them, closely monitoring them. We have sent assets also from our forces and from the PCG aerial assets to continue monitoring them,” he said.

This came as China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels, including its ‘monster ship’ CCG 5901, continue to operate illegal in Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

The CCG 5901 has been repeatedly entering Philippine waters since Jan. 4.

Malaya also said the government’s maritime domain awareness capabilities have been focused on detecting these illegal activities being conducted by the CCG.

“The NMC (National Maritime Council) issued a statement yesterday (Monday) asking the Chinese government to withdraw this monster ship because it is clearly an illegal presence in our waters. But so far as the objective of this presence, which is to intimidate (our Filipino fishermen), we can clearly state that the intimidation tactics are not successful and that we remain resolved to support our Filipino fishermen. And we will not stop challenging their presence within Philippine waters,” he added.

Also, Malaya said the presence of the “monster ship” in Philippine waters is illegal and inconsistent with the exercise of freedom of navigation and innocent passage.

“It is clearly a provocative act. It is also a clear attempt to intimidate our fishermen and deprive them of their legitimate livelihood,” he said.

“I think they are underestimating the resolve of the Philippine government to support our Filipino fishermen. As a nation unified in securing what is rightfully and legally ours, we do not and will not dignify these scare tactics by backing down. We do not waver or cower in the face of intimidation. On the contrary, it strengthens our resolve because we know we are in the right. We wish to reiterate the legitimacy and effectivity of the 2016 Arbitral Award and the Philippine Maritime Zones Act. It remains unquestionable and irrefutable.”

In the same briefing, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said the Philippines remains unfazed with the repeated Chinese incursions.

“We are not going to allow China to normalize the illegal deployment of the Chinese Coast Guard because that is what they have been doing,” Tarriela said.

“They are going to normalize, change the status quo, and then operationalize and claim that they have been doing this for the past month or year.”

The PCG continues to challenge these CCG vessels “hour-by-hour and day-by-day” and reaffirm the Philippines’ sovereignty over its exclusive economic zone, Tarriela said.

“For the PCG, we are documenting the illegal presence of the CCG and telling the world that the Philippine government is against this illegal presence of the CCG 5901,” he said.