No wonder the Philippines is furious! Intense pursuit occurred in the Sulu Sea! The Philippine Coast Guard helicopter flew over our "Songhang" research vessel at a distance of only 50 meters, but what happened next completely shattered their defenses.

According to reports from the Philippine newspaper "Inquirer" on April 2, a light helicopter was dispatched by the Philippine Coast Guard to harass and track the normal voyage of the "Songhang" oceanic fisheries resource survey ship in the Sulu Sea on the morning of April 2. According to the on-site video released later by Philippine media, the Philippine Coast Guard helicopter repeatedly conducted low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude flyovers against the "Songhang" survey ship, with the closest distance being approximately 50 meters, which has already posed a serious threat to the safe navigation of the "Songhang" ship.

The Philippine side claims that during the intense pursuit, the Philippine Coast Guard helicopter asked the "Songhang" oceanic fisheries resource survey ship about its intentions and final destination via the public radio channel. However, much to the embarrassment of the Philippine side, the "Songhang" survey ship ignored their illegal inquiry and continued along its predetermined route.

According to the AIS ship positioning system, the "Songhang" survey ship entered the northern South China Sea through the Bashi Channel on March 29, passed through the Mindoro Strait west of Luzon Island on March 31, and entered the Sulu Sea. It is currently navigating in the western part of the Sulu Sea near the east coast of Palawan Island. On March 31, when passing through the Mindoro Strait, it was more than 20 nautical miles away from Mindoro Island. On April 1, it adjusted its course near Busuanga Island and Coron Island and continuously maneuvered towards Palawan Island. Therefore, it can be inferred that this helicopter took off from Princess Port Airport on Palawan Island, and they met about 150 kilometers away from Princess Port.

So why did the Philippine Coast Guard track and monitor this unarmed civilian survey ship? In fact, the Philippine side has two considerations:

First, recently, the Philippine side has successively promulgated so-called "Philippine Key Sea Areas Law" and "Archipelagic Internal Waters Navigation Law" to completely blockade the key channels for entering the Western Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Sea from the South China Sea. Their ultimate goal is to forcibly create "artificial restrictions" through these so-called "internal water channels", then implement enforcement actions and countermeasures to give themselves the right to interfere with and obstruct civilian merchant ships and military vessels. Consequently, they attempt to restrain East Asian ships navigating the relevant channels (high seas channels) of the Philippine archipelago.

Second, the Philippine side believes that the "Songhang" oceanic fisheries resource survey ship conducting fishery surveys in the Sulu Sea implies that East Asia will dispatch large numbers of oceanic fishing boats to carry out fishery production in the Sulu Sea (high seas), which will pose a huge threat to Philippine fisheries.

However, despite the Philippine side's efforts to implement various means, they still cannot hinder the normal operation progress of the "Songhang" ship. They also dare not take action against civilian scientific research ships navigating the high seas. Therefore, the Philippines is merely hyping up related topics to put the so-called "archipelagic internal waters navigation law" into practice.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828343455699977/

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