Tensions between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea escalated when a Chinese military helicopter flew dangerously close to a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane conducting a patrol over Panatag Shoal on Saturday.
As reported by 24 Oras, the BFAR aircraft managed to fly over Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) despite warnings from a Chinese Navy warship. Shortly after, a Chinese Harbin Z-9 helicopter began trailing the plane at a distance deemed hazardous, prompting the Filipino pilot to issue a safety warning.
“Chinese military helicopter, you are violating flight air safety prescribed by the FAA and ICAO… You are flying too close to our position at less than 50 feet,” the BFAR pilot announced over the radio. The pilot emphasized that the BFAR plane was conducting a maritime survey within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and urged the helicopter to maintain a safe distance.
Despite this, the Chinese helicopter moved even closer, at one point approaching within six meters of the BFAR plane. The helicopter’s presence, along with Chinese vessels stationed near the shoal’s entrance, displayed Beijing’s ongoing assertion of control over the area’s waters and airspace.
As the BFAR aircraft departed, it spotted a Chinese guided-missile destroyer, Hefei (174), about 25 nautical miles from the shoal. The destroyer transmitted a garbled radio message to the Filipino plane, to which the BFAR crew responded, asserting that the Chinese warship was far beyond China’s 200-nautical-mile EEZ.
Panatag Shoal lies 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales, within the Philippines’ EEZ as per the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling in favor of the Philippines, China continues to reject the decision, asserting control over the disputed region.