MANILA – The Philippine Navy has denied reports that China conducted military exercises off Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Navy spokesperson for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said what was observed was a "dispersed presence" of the China Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force.
"An exercise is a synchronized maneuver by different forces. What we monitored was the dispersed presence of the Coast Guard, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy, and the PLA Air Force," he said.
Trinidad said reports of Chinese military exercises are part of Beijing's "false narrative (and) malign influence to project that they have control over Bajo de Masinloc."
"Bajo de Masinloc remains ours. It is within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone), and it has a territorial sea of its own," he said.
Reports had claimed that Chinese naval vessels and military aircraft conducted drills in the vital waterway to assert control over the area.
Also known as Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal, Bajo de Masinloc lies 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales. It is within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile EEZ under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Trinidad assured the public that Philippine naval patrols in the WPS will continue despite rising oil prices due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, stressing that there is no "price for sovereignty." (PNA)