China’s largest research vessel complied with the Philippines’ protocols regarding the use of archipelagic sea lanes as prescribed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippine Navy said on Tuesday.
“They were traversing in our archipelagic waters. They are allowed under UNCLOS. Because under UNCLOS, ships are at the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage,” Navy Spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.
According to Trinidad, the research ship originated in Port Klang, Malaysia and it was monitored by Philippine Navy monitoring stations in Balabac, Palawan.
“They responded. They gave their last port of call, their next port of call, the skipper’s name, 56 crew members, and they were passing through our archipelagic sea lanes because of the inclement weather in the western part of Palawan,” Trinidad said.
Trinidad also said the large vessel exited Coron, Palawan and is now in the vicinity of Lubang Islands in Mindoro.
“Their passage was continuous and expeditious. They exited from Coron late last night, early this morning, they were in the vicinity of Lubang Island,” he added.
Trinidad also said that the vessel’s behavior was expected of all foreign ships that pass through Philippine archipelagic sea lanes.
“This is the expected behavior of foreign ships from any nationality, from any country, that passes through our archipelagic waters,” he explained.
Trinidad noted that they will keep an eye on the vessel based on the guidelines stated under the recently signed Philippine Maritime Zones and Archipelagic Sea Lanes laws.