3 Chinese research vessels spotted in Ayungin Shoal have left the area – AFP

An aerial view shows the BRP Sierra Madre on the contested Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, in the South China Sea. (March 9, 2023/ File Photo)

MANILA, Philippines — The three research vessels recently spotted in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal already left the country, an Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) official said on Thursday.

“The three other research vessels were found to be just passing by,” AFP spokesperson Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters in a phone interview.

Padilla also said the research vessels already left the country’s exclusive economic zone on Monday (April 29).

READ: 3 Chinese research vessels spotted near Ayungin Shoal

The presence of such vessels in Ayungin Shoal was unprecedented, according to Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea.

Trinidad also attributed the appearance of Beijing’s research vessels to the ongoing “Balikatan” war games between Manila and Washington, which will last until May 10.

“It is their way of showing that they are not deterred. They are not scared of what is happening in the West Philippine Sea,” Trinidad said in a regular AFP press conference on Tuesday.

Beijing is asserting its sovereignty in the entire South China Sea — including most of the West Philippine Sea — despite the July 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling that effectively invalidated its claims based on a case filed by Manila in 2013.