PCG to China: Aid for fisherman ‘appreciated,’ but why were you in PH EEZ?

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Friday, December 26, said that while it “acknowledge[s] and appreciate[s]” help extended by the Chinese Navy toward a Filipino fisherman on Christmas Day, it hopes that “this incident is not exploited as propaganda by China” — an indication of tensions that still persist between the two countries over Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. 

“The [Chinese] destroyer had no legitimate reason to operate within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The reported location of this alleged humanitarian act — at coordinates 14°33.470’N, 118°52.120’E (approximately 71 nautical miles west of Silanguin Island, Zambales) — falls well within Philippine EEZ,” said the PCG’s Commodore Jay Tarriela in a statement to media.

The Chinese embassy in the Philippines on Friday released videos and photos showing People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) personnel giving bottled water and snacks on Christmas Day, December 25, to “a distressed Philippine fishing vessel in the South China Sea…who had been stranded for three days due to engine failure.” The embassy also noted that Chinese Navy ship 174 “[coordinated] follow-up support with the Philippine Coast Guard.”

Footage and photos from the embassy show a lone Filipino fisherman aboard the Akia Shanae boat floating close to a buoy and holding up a “Help Me” sign crafted out of a styrofoam cooler lid.

Additional video show uniformed PLAN personnel aboard a smaller boat tossing water and snacks toward the fisherman, who subsequently said thanks. The scene was posted on the embassy’s social media accounts and sent to media through official channels.

In a statement, Tarriela said they “received no prior information from the PLAN regarding the location or condition of the fisherman who reportedly received this assistance.”

He also disputed claims that the fisherman, Larry Tumalis, had been adrift for three days. Tumalis, whom the PCG rescued and spoke to hours after his encounter with the PLAN, was “safely moored” beside a payao, or a floating aggregate device, and was already waiting to be picked up by his mother boat, or a larger fishing vessel.

“Claim that he had been adrift for three days is inaccurate. The service boat departed on a fishing trip on December 24 around 3 pm, and the fisherman was located by the PCG and the mother boat the following afternoon — less than 24 hours later,” said Tarriela.

Vessels — even navy ships — can pass through a country’s EEZ, so long as it’s done quickly and with the intention of just transit. China and its PLAN vessels have done much more than just transit in the West Philippine Sea — a part of the South China Sea that includes the Philippines’ EEZ and features it claims as its own. 

Beijing, in contrast, claims almost all of the South China Sea. It enforces its claim by driving away and harassing Philippine vessels, including smaller wooden ships of Filipino fisherfolk. Tarriela said the Christmas Day incident was a “notable contrast to the barbaric, illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive actions often employed by the China Coast Guard against Filipino fishermen.”

“Finally, we hope this incident is not exploited as propaganda by China. Instead, it should serve as recognition that Filipino fishermen have full rights to fish in the waters around Bajo de Masinloc. We hope that the PLAN, unlike the China Coast Guard, ceases endorsing the Chinese Communist Party’s unfounded claims to the entire South China Sea based on its invalid ‘10-dash line,’” said Tarriela. 

China has actively rejected a 2016 arbitral award that affirmed the Philippines’ EEZ and called out Beijing’s harassment of Filipino ships, including in Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc. 

Tensions between Manila and Beijing over the West Philippine Sea have remained heightened over China’s claims and harassment. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has promised not to give up even a square inch in the face of China’s sweeping claims. – Rappler.com