Navy: Chinese militia vessels shouldn't be within Phl EEZ

Thirty Chinese maritime militia vessels have been spotted in the vicinity of Rozul Reef off Palawan, while Vietnam has reportedly scaled up its dredging activities in the Kalayaan Island Group, the Philippine Navy said yesterday.

- PIA LEE-BRAGO

In an interview on dzBB, Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said the number of Chinese maritime militia or People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessels spotted keep changing and it is not surprising.

“We don’t know what they’re planning to do, but in the first place they should not even be there,” Trinidad said, referring to the Chinese.

“They shouldn’t be there. They are China’s agents of aggression, and they’re entering our exclusive economic zone. We should really be focused on this – it’s incursion,” he said.