In their statement, they confirm that their research vessel Xiangyanghong 33 was operating in the waters near “China’s Houteng Jiao” — their name for Iroquois Reef, the southernmost part of Recto Bank (Reed Bank). This area lies well within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile EEZ and continental shelf. It does not belong to China.
Under UNCLOS Article 246, marine scientific research in the EEZ of a coastal state shall be conducted only with the consent of that coastal state. China has no such consent from the Philippines. Their unilateral “legitimate marine ecological survey” is therefore a clear and deliberate violation of Philippine sovereign rights and international law.
The presence of China Coast Guard vessels and their so-called “professional and standardized maneuvers” in these waters is equally unlawful. The China Coast Guard has no jurisdiction, no law enforcement authority, and no sovereign rights in Philippine waters. Their actions constitute an illegal assertion of jurisdiction in an area where they have none.
The 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award was crystal clear: China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis, Recto Bank/Reed Bank falls squarely within the Philippines’ EEZ, and Chinese claims to “historic rights” or jurisdiction over these waters are invalid.
Our PCG Islander aircraft was simply doing routine MDA flight — monitoring unauthorized foreign activity inside our own EEZ. That is not “harassment.” It is the responsible exercise of our sovereign rights under international law. The real distortion of facts comes from Beijing’s repeated attempts to rewrite geography and law to suit its expansionist agenda.
