Three China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels were recently detected near the waters off Batanes, following a pattern described by a maritime expert as “very unusual.”
According to Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight project that monitors Chinese maritime activity in the West Philippine Sea, CCG vessels with hull numbers 3301 and 3304 were seen traversing the Bashi Channel as of 7:44 a.m. on Thursday.
A third ship with hull number 4304 was also observed patrolling roughly 70 nautical miles northwest of Batanes.
“I almost never see the CCG near Batanes, and this is the first time I’ve seen any pass through the Bashi Channel in my years of monitoring,” Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told the Inquirer.
“Very unusual track for CCG—not clear where they’re headed,” he added.
Powell said that while the activities of three CCG ships were technically legal, their purpose remained suspicious.
“The transit of CCG 3301 and 3304 is highly unusual but legal under international law (so far),” Powell said.
“Meanwhile, CCG 4304 specifically has been loitering … within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone since last night, which is also legal but aggressive—I would classify it as an intrusive patrol,” he added.
The Bashi Channel, a strategic maritime passage between Batanes’ Mavulis Island and Taiwan’s Orchid Island, serves as a critical link between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Just days earlier, a Chinese research vessel was also monitored passing near Babuyan Island, which lies close to the same channel. Powell noted that the ship may have been conducting intelligence-gathering activities while in the area.
