June 28 ------ China Coast Guard (CCG) 5901, the world's largest coast guard ship known as "The Monster," passed through 12 features of the West Philippines Sea (WPS) in the past 10 days, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
In a statement, PCG spokesperson for the WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said the China’s vessel was tracked traversing the waters of the following features:
• Parola Island
• Pagasa Island
• Zamora Reef
• Bayani Bank
• Union Bank
• Kagitingan Reef
• Rizal Reef
• Panganiban Reef
• Lawak Island
• Patag Island
• Escoda Shoal
• Bajo De Masinloc
The PCG was able to track the movement of the Chinese ship using Canada's dark vessel detection technology, according to Tarriela. “On June 17th, CCG 5901 departed from Hainan and directly encroached upon the territorial waters of the Philippine-occupied features of Parola and Pagasa, violating our sovereignty,” Tarriela said. The Chinese ship entered Zamora Reef and stayed overnight before moving to Bayani and Union Banks.
On June 20, CCG 5901 proceeded to Kagitingan Reef where it “possibly resupplied for logistics” and then moved to Malaysia and Brunei’s exclusive economic zones, according to the PCG. “She once again headed north and entered the Philippine EEZ once more. She passed through Rizal Reef and made a supply stop at Panganiban Reef on June 23rd,” Tarriela said. “The following day, she continued to navigate within the Philippines EEZ, selectively passing through Lawak and Patag, and then making a quick southeasterly turn to pass through Escoda Shoal,” he added.
After this, the Chinese vessel went to the waters of El Nido, Palawan with a close distance of 34 nautical miles from its coastline. From there, it made a quick turn towards Bajo De Masinloc, where it joined three other CCG vessels that were deployed in the area. After spending a few hours loitering at BDM, CCG 5901 sailed back towards Hainan,” Tarriela said.
As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, Tarriela said CCG 5901 was last monitored 46 nautical miles southeast of Sanya, Hainan.
Source: gmanetwork.com
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