Fewer Chinese vessels spotted near Ayungin
THE Navy on Tuesday said it spotted fewer China vessels during the latest resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship that the Philippines deliberately grounded on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a military outpost in the disputed South China Sea. Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said it has only monitored two People's Liberation Army-Navy warships, five China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels and two Chinese maritime militia vessels during the Jan. 24 resupply mission. Compared to the previous rotation and reprovisioning mission, there were fewer ships this time, Trinidad said at a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo. It was also a far cry from the 46 Chinese vessels monitored in December 2023. The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday said this was the fifth resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre following the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) between Manila and Beijing. The meeting followed the violent incident on June 17, 2024, in which the China Coast Guard, with support from maritime militia and the People's Liberation Army Navy, surrounded, rammed and boarded a Philippine Navy inflatable boat, using knives and axes to damage the vessel and destroy equipment. Last week, the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike group, along with two other battleships and four aircraft, navigated the WPS with two Philippine vessels and three planes. The joint sail was considered the first iteration of Maritime Cooperative Activity in 2025 between the US and the Philippines. China maintains it has sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including areas that are internationally acknowledged as being in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. It does so despite an arbitral award issued in July 2016 that invalidated Beijing's expansive claims to the strategic waterway.
Tomas Kauer - Moderator 
THE Navy on Tuesday said it spotted fewer China vessels during the latest resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship that the Philippines deliberately grounded on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as a military outpost in the disputed South China Sea.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said it has only monitored two People's Liberation Army-Navy warships, five China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels and two Chinese maritime militia vessels during the Jan. 24 resupply mission.
Compared to the previous rotation and reprovisioning mission, there were fewer ships this time, Trinidad said at a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo. It was also a far cry from the 46 Chinese vessels monitored in December 2023.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday said this was the fifth resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre following the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) between Manila and Beijing.
The meeting followed the violent incident on June 17, 2024, in which the China Coast Guard, with support from maritime militia and the People's Liberation Army Navy, surrounded, rammed and boarded a Philippine Navy inflatable boat, using knives and axes to damage the vessel and destroy equipment.
Last week, the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike group, along with two other battleships and four aircraft, navigated the WPS with two Philippine vessels and three planes.
The joint sail was considered the first iteration of Maritime Cooperative Activity in 2025 between the US and the Philippines.
China maintains it has sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including areas that are internationally acknowledged as being in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. It does so despite an arbitral award issued in July 2016 that invalidated Beijing's expansive claims to the strategic waterway.
