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Chinese research vessel to reach northern PH Tuesday afternoon

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
February 11, 2025, 2:35 pm

MANILA -- The Chinese Research Vessel (CRV) Lan Hai 101 is expected to steam into the Philippines' northern territory late Tuesday afternoon or early evening, a ranking naval official said.

In an interview, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the Chinese ship was spotted navigating "northward, almost true north."

"As we speak right now, nasa mga bandang west ng Subic Bay yan (the CRV is west of Subic Bay). That's around four or five hours from Cabra (Island) at (a) speed of 12 (knots)," he added.

Trinidad estimated that this is equivalent to around 60 nautical miles.

"We expect probably by late afternoon or early evening (Tuesday) nasa, (the CRV will be at the) northern part na ng (of the) country, kung same speed siya (if it maintains the same speed)," the PN official added.

Trinidad also estimated that the CRV Lan Hai 101 will be out of the Philippines' northern exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by "midnight or early morning" Wednesday.

The PN official said that CRV Lan Hai 101 came out from Port Klang in Malaysia and was challenged by a littoral monitoring station in Balabac, Palawan in the afternoon of Feb. 9.

Trinidad said that the ship's crew immediately responded to the Philippine challenge and gave all pertinent voyage details.

"They gave their last port of call, their next port of call, the skipper's name, with 56 crew members. And they were passing through our archipelagic sea lanes because of the inclement weather in the western part of Palawan. They were traversing in our archipelagic waters. They are allowed under UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)," he added.

The Chinese ship's next port of call is in Shandong, China per the information it has provided.

Trinidad added that the response of the Chinese crew is "acceptable" as foreign ships under UNCLOS "have the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage."

He also maintained that the Chinese ship's passage was continuous and expeditious as it exited Coron last night.

"First and foremost, I would like to highlight again the vigilance of our monitoring stations. We were able to track these when they entered our EEZ. They were challenged when they were within radio frequency range. They responded accordingly. The report was handed over to the next naval operating force, (the) next unified command. They were also challenged as they passed through Lubang Island. This is the expected behavior of foreign ships from any nationality, from any country, that pass through our archipelagic waters," Trinidad said.

He also said that PN will monitor all these kinds of incidents as the military has the capability aside from the Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act which were recently enacted into law.

"Our vigilance is always there. We are always continuously monitoring our EEZ. This particular fishery research vessel complied with the established protocols in replying to challenges," Trinidad said. (PNA)