Breaking! Intense standoff occurs in the northwest of Luzon Island! The Philippine Coast Guard ships and aircraft harassed a Chinese 10,000-ton vessel within the Nine-Dash Line, and the next moment it was met with a powerful counterattack. On May 6 local time, according to reports by the Philippines' ABS-CBN television station, the Philippine Coast Guard dispatched a maritime patrol ship, a light patrol aircraft, and a helicopter to harass and track a marine research vessel named "Exploration No. 3" from East China Sea University for a long period. This led to a fierce standoff lasting 30 hours between both sides in the waters northwest of Luzon Island in the province of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. During this period, the Philippine Coast Guard, leveraging its advantages of multiple patrol aircraft and vessels, engaged in prolonged harassment and overflight of the defenseless research vessel. It is worth noting that the sea area where the intense standoff and contact incident occurred between both sides is located northwest of the province of Ilocos Norte on Luzon Island in the Philippines, about 92 nautical miles (approximately 170 kilometers) from the provincial coastline in publicly accessible waters (within our Nine-Dash Line). In other words, the fact that the Philippine Coast Guard has been harassing and maliciously approaching one of our civilian research vessels for a long time in the Nine-Dash Line waters already violates international maritime law conventions and maritime contact guidelines. What's more unreasonable is that the Philippine side characterized the reason for so-called maritime surveillance as the East China Sea University research vessel entering the Philippines' so-called "exclusive economic zone," and claimed they needed to "verify" and "monitor" the actions of this vessel. From the on-site videos and maritime contact images released by the Philippine side, the Philippine Coast Guard vessel 9701, together with relevant maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters, repeatedly conducted prolonged close flights above and near the "Exploration No. 3" and asked via public radio channels about the vessel's navigation destination and intentions. However, the Philippine side's maritime surveillance action, which clearly had a performance nature, did not substantially affect the marine research activities of the "Exploration No. 3"; however, it received a "face-to-face counterattack" from the research activities of the "Exploration No. 3." The "Exploration No. 3" not only conducted manned submersible diving operations of the "Deep Sea Warrior" in broad daylight under the watchful eyes of the Philippine side but also carried out rapid approaches and crew recovery on board near the side of the Philippine naval vessels. At the same time, the "Exploration No. 3" sent out a rigid inflatable boat to recover a yellow ocean environmental research and data collection device at sea. During the Philippine Coast Guard's attempt to seize the aforementioned device, it was left behind by the rigid inflatable boat and ended up empty-handed, greatly displeasing the Philippine side. Analysts pointed out that the Philippine side's intention to "find compensation" on related civilian research vessels is not only to give an account to the United States during the U.S.-Philippine military exercises. Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard intended through such actions to strengthen its claims regarding the so-called "exclusive economic zone." In addition, both the U.S. and the Philippines believe that the key strait entrance where the relevant 10,000-ton research vessel was spotted is located between Taiwan and Luzon Island in the Philippines. It is a critical location for entering the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean, as well as the Philippine Sea via the Balintang Strait, Bashi Channel, and Babuyan Strait. Moreover, because this sea area is in deep water, it is conducive to submarine ambush operations. Therefore, the maritime research and intelligence collection work related to ocean environments have raised consistent vigilance from both the U.S. and the Philippines. However, the essence of this matter is that whatever research the scientific research vessel is conducting has nothing to do with the Philippines. The Philippine side deliberately hyping up this issue is malicious. Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831339997094084/ Disclaimer: The article solely represents the views of the author.