News Roundup 21 November 2022
Nov 21, 2022 • 5 min Read
Wescom: China coast guard took debris Philippine Navy retrieved off Pag-asa | PHILSTAR.COM – The Chinese Coast Guard “forcefully” took custody of what the military Western Command said is believed to be debris from a Chinese rocket found floating off Pagasa Island in Palawan, the Puerto Princesa headquartered Wecsom said. In a statement sent to media, Wescom said it first received a report from Naval Station Emilio Liwanag on Kalayaan Island on November 20 that an unidentified object had been spotted via long-range camera drifting about 800 yards west of Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea. Naval station personnel then proceeded to the area for inspection and observed the object drifting towards Pag-asa Islands Cay 1 sand bar due to strong waves and currents. Upon arrival, the team retrieved the floating object, tied it securely to their boat, and started towing it back to Kalayaan Island. “However, as the [Naval Station Emilio Liwanag] Team was towing the floating object, they noticed that China Coast Guard vessel with Bow Number 5203 was approaching their location and subsequently blocked their pre-plotted course twice,” the statement read. “The vessel then deployed its Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat [and] forcefully retrieved said floating object by cutting the towing line attached to the NSEL rubber boat.” The inflatable boat then returned to its main vessel, and the NSEL Team decided to return to Pagasa Island. No member of the NSEL Team was injured. The Philippine Space Agency earlier this month said similar debris recovered in waters off Palawan and Mindoro islands were likely from a Chinese Long March 5B rocket launched in late October. PhilSA has also been calling on “spacefaring nations must abide by the protocols and mechanisms enshrined in the UN Outer Space Treaty, encourage close coordination, and timely resolution of issues such as space debris mitigation.” The incident is the latests between Beijing and Manila in a simmering dispute in the South China Sea, part of which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier called for the completion of a code of conduct among parties with claims to the strategic waterway. So far in 2022, the Philippine Coast Guard has reported at least four incidents of China Coast Guard vessels conducting close-distance maneuvering while Philippine vessels were on maritime patrol. It called these incidents a clear violation of the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. At one point in 2021, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs was filing daily diplomatic protests “against the incessant deployment, prolonged presence, and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa islands” which numbered in the hundreds. The DFA said in a statement that it is “aware of the incident and awaits detailed reports from maritime law enforcement agencies,” saying also that a thorough review will be conducted.”
Blasts heard in Pag-asa Island after PH, China sea encounter | INQUIRER.NET – A series of blasts was heard by residents of Philippine-occupied Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea on Sunday (Nov. 20), powerful enough to jolt the ground as it rippled across the island. A report from local police said “the repetitive sounds” were believed to come from “artillery guns/weapons” from Chinese-held Zamora (Subi) Reef, one of the biggest out of seven man-made islands built by Beijing in the Spratly Islands, some 26 kilometers away. But at least two officials who spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity said the source of the loud blasts, which were heard from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., was still being verified. “The blasts were not here, but we felt the jolt,” said a resident of Pag-asa. The blasts came two days ahead of the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Palawan, the island province near the disputed South China Sea, where China had built military facilities on artificial islands. Pag-asa, some 480 kilometers from Palawan’s capital Puerto Princesa City, is the largest of the nine features occupied by the Philippines in the Spratly Islands. It is a fifth-class municipality in the Kalayaan Island Group with about a hundred civilian residents. The blasts on Sunday occurred a few hours after a sea encounter between the Philippine Navy and China Coast Guard (CCG) near the island. A civilian boat manned by Philippine Navy personnel sailed near Cay 1, a sandbar some 3.7 kilometers from Pag-asa, to retrieve suspected Chinese rocket debris, Western Command chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said in a statement. As the Filipino sailors towed the debris to the island, a Chinese coast guard ship with bow number 5203 blocked their path twice and launched one of its rubber boats to “forcefully” take the debris by cutting the cable line connecting it with the Philippine Navy boat. The Filipinos were unable to retrieve the debris from CCG and headed back to the island without it. The Filipino sailors were unharmed, Carlos said. However, the harassment has been reported to the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea “for appropriate action.”
Harris reaffirms US vow to defend PH if attacked over South China Sea row | INQUIRER.NET – United States Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday reaffirmed her government’s commitment to the defense of the Philippines in the event of a military strike over the contested waters of the South China Sea. In a courtesy call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Harris said the relationship between the Philippines and the US is “long and enduring” and is based on “mutual commitment to the economic prosperity” and “mutual concerns about the security in the region.” “I will say that we must reiterate always that we stand with you in defense of international rules and norms as it relates to the South China Sea,” she said. “An armed attack on the Philippines, armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke US mutual defense commitments and that is an unwavering commitment that we have to the Philippines.” “We know that there are so many opportunities for us to continue to strengthen our relationship, that the basis of our relationship is based on mutual commitments to international rules and norms and upholding those international rules and norms in all the ways that we know allow for again prosperity and security for our respective nations in the region,” Harris also said.
