Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana/ Photo from IISS Flickr
Chinese warships have passed through Philippine internal waters four times this year without informing the government.
Speaking on Thursday during turnover and blessing rites for the Philippine Coast Guard’s new patrol boats, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said there had been at least four incident reports this year of Chinese warships passing through the waters between Bongao Bay and Sibutu Strait in Tawi-Tawi province.
The area is known for heavy ship traffic, with up to 150 vessels, mostly commercial, passing through every day, Lorenzana said.
Military vessels
But the government needs to be informed if these are vessels of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy that are passing through Philippine internal waters, he said.
“As long as they aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s allowed for them to pass,” he added.
In an interview with reporters after the event, Lorenzana said he asked Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua during Monday’s opening of the 18th Congress whether it was true that the Liaoning was among the Chinese warships that had passed through Sibutu Strait.
“[H]e said no. But there are several [war]ships he knows about,” Lorenzana said.
The Liaoning is China’s first aircraft carrier. It is classified as a training ship intended to allow the Chinese navy to experiment, train and gain familiarity with aircraft carrier operations.
“He (Zhao) said that in the future, they will require those [war]ships to inform the embassy, the Chinese Embassy here in Manila, about intended passage [through] Sibutu and they will inform us,” Lorenzana said.
Small warships
Those that passed through Sibutu, he said, were smaller Chinese warships.
“What I said was that they should inform us if warships were passing through. But for commercial ships, there is no need to ask permission (to pass through Sibutu Strait) because that is allowed as an innocent passage,” he said.