Philippine Chief of Staff Sobeljana said Monday that there are still Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea. To strengthen control of the South China Sea, the Philippines plans to build Zhongye Island as a logistical hub and set up high-resolution surveillance systems on Philippine-held features.
The Central News Agency reported that the military plans to set up high-resolution and night-vision closed-circuit television cameras on Philippine-occupied features in the South China Sea, with images transmitted to a command center to monitor the maritime situation in the surrounding area.
The Philippines’ ships must now return to the princess port of Palawan Island to refuel and refill, but the princess port is far from the West Philippine Sea. The military plans to build the island as a logistics hub, but this plan requires a large amount of money, the military will actively propose to the authorities, hoping to approve the budget.
The Philippine News Agency reported that Philippine Defense Secretary Lorenzana said on June 6 that the Philippine Air Force urgently needs to procure multi-purpose warplanes as the situation in the region is deteriorating.
Lorenzana said, “We are pushing for the procurement of multipurpose warplanes because this is a key force to defend our airspace from any form of threat and to enforce the Philippine Air Defense Identification Zone (surveillance).”
The Philippine-China dispute over the South China Sea has been heating up since late March. Authorities in Manila have accused some 220 Chinese maritime militia vessels of massing on NiuYoke Reef and lodged at least five diplomatic protests with Beijing, demanding immediate departure from Philippine exclusive economic waters.
The Philippine military has deployed at least 10 naval vessels to conduct sovereignty patrols in the West Philippine Sea, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Military Region has placed four military aircraft on standby.
Sobehana said the Chinese side will broadcast a declaration of sovereignty when the Philippine Navy patrols. “The Chinese navy and marine police already have a model that says, ‘This is our territory, get out of here.’ But we are not cowed by those broadcasts. We continue to patrol.”
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