Chinese ships in ‘blockade position’ at Ayungin, Escoda

This file photo from the Philippine Coast Guard shows the Chinese Coast Guard maintaining its presence in Ayungin Shoal and Sabina Shoal. Photo courtesy of NTF West Philippine Sea/File 

MANILA — Chinese vessels “remain in blockade position” at Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) and Escoda Shoal (Sabina Shoal) in the West Philippine Sea, a maritime security analyst said Monday.

Ret. US Air Force Col. Ray Powell, director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency initiative of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, said at least 16 Chinese maritime militia vessels were spotted at Ayungin Shoal, as of 6 in the morning.

Meanwhile, a China Coast Guard ship was still at Escoda Shoal, along with two Chinese maritime militia vessels.

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“I’m not tracking any Philippines ships moving toward Second Thomas Shoal, but China thinks something is happening,” Powell said, citing South China Sea monitor SCS Probing Initiative’s post on X stating that “a new Philippine resupply mission with building materials at Second Thomas Shoal is likely to begin soon.”

Philippine officials have yet to comment on the matter, as of this writing.

“China’s maritime militia has now deployed into blockade positions east of Second Thomas Shoal and south of Sabina Shoal,” he said.

Manila has a makeshift military outpost at Ayungin, through the Philippine Navy’s dilapidated landing ship BRP Sierra Madre; while the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Teresa Magbanua has been anchored at Escoda for more than a month now to keep watch on Chinese vessels suspected to be conducting reclamation activities.

“No other Philippine vessels detectable,” Powell said.

Earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. slammed what he calls as “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions” that continue to violate the Philippines’ “sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”

This, as he stated that the Philippines remains unyielding in protecting its maritime rights which have been affirmed by international law.

“In this solid footing and through our clear moral ascendancy, we find the strength to do whatever it takes to protect our sovereign home – to the last square inch, to the last square millimeter,” Marcos said at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

“The life-giving waters of the West Philippine Sea flow in the blood of every Filipino.
We cannot allow anyone to detach it from the totality of the maritime domain that renders our nation whole,” he added.

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