The presence of the China Coast Guard (CCG) persists despite the effort of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to block them and assist the four main vessels of the second civilian resupply mission of the Atin Ito Coalition to the Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea on May 15, 2024. Fisherfolk on small bancas join volunteers from the Atin Ito Coalition and members of the media as they prepare to depart from Matalbis Port in Masinloc, Zambales, for the second civilian resupply mission to the West Philippine Sea on May 15, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- Chinese vessels continue to loiter in the West Philippine Sea, including warships and research and survey vessels, monitoring from the Philippine Navy showed. 

In data released on Tuesday, the Philippine Navy said it has spotted 178 Chinese ships in the country's waters, including 17 vessels from the People's Liberation Army Navy scattered in many features, and two Chinese research and survey vessels in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) over the past seven days, from September 24 to 30. 

The West Philippine Sea was also infested with 28 China Coast Guard and 131 Chinese maritime militia vessels. 

China over the weekend announced that it "organized naval and air forces to conduct routine reconnaissance, early warning, and sea-air patrol exercises" around Bajo de Masinloc, over which it claims "indisputable sovereignty."

This coincided with the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA) of the Philippines, United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand in the northern Luzon part of West Philippines Sea, which includes Bajo de Masinloc in Zambales. 

"Certain individual external countries are stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, creating instability in the region," the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said in a statement, as reported by state media Global Times.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Sunday that China's navy tailed the Philippines’ joint sea and air activities with its allies.

Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, AFP spokesperson, said the Philippine military monitored the Chinese navy vessels in the vicinity of the exercise but that the multilateral exercise "proceeded as planned without any interference" and that the ships of the participating countries were never in danger.

READ: PH holds joint drills with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and US in Philippine waters

READ: AFP: China’s navy tailed multilateral exercise in West Philippine Sea

Beijing continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea, despite a ruling by an international court that says it has no legal basis for its assertions.

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