China ‘monster ship’ conducts another ‘intrusive patrol’

MANILA, Philippines —  China’s biggest coast guard ship was again seen intruding in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal yesterday, just a day after the Philippines and China agreed to deescalate tensions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) through a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) meeting in Manila.

The 165-meter-long vessel with bow number 5901, dubbed “The Monster,” joined a smaller China Coast Guard (CCG) boat with bow number 5203 at Ayungin Shoal, former US Air Force official and former defense attaché Ray Powell said in a post on X.

Powell, who has been monitoring ship movements in the South China Sea and the WPS, first sighted China’s biggest coast guard vessel in Philippine waters in late May in the vicinity of Panatag Shoal off Zambales.

It was again seen on June 24 in the Ayungin Shoal area just days after the June 17 rotation and resupply (RORE) mission to the BRP Sierra Madre where the CCG forcibly blocked Philippine boats and severely injured a Filipino soldier in a ramming incident during the confrontation that saw Chinese personnel arming themselves with knives, bolos and axes.

The Philippine Navy has yet to confirm Powell’s report, though the military has repeatedly assured the public that it is monitoring all vessels entering and passing through the country’s territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Philippine Navy spokesman for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said radio challenges are issued to any ship that transits through the maritime waters of the country.

“We check their course, their speed, their name, where they come from, where they’re heading to, which is part of an established practice of navies and coast guards and merchant vessels all over the world,” he told reporters.

“Some of them reply, some of them do not. But I would like to emphasize these are not only Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy ships that we challenge. All ships to include commercial vessels that transit through our sea lanes…are regularly challenged. On a given day, we challenge hundreds of them, all over the country,” Trinidad said.

In an interview yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino