American tech company discovers strong presence of Chinese vessels near PH-occupied island

MANILA, Philippines – Chinese ships continued to freely enter an area near Pag-asa (Thitu), a Philippine-administered island in the Western Philippine Sea, according to a US technology firm.

A report from the South China Sea Rapid Alert Simularity Service, a Florida-based technology company, said there were at least 20 vessels near Pag-asa on October 9 alone.

Simularity provides free alerts and reports to subscribers on developments in the South China Sea using satellite images focused on target locations that are input into artificial intelligence software that detects “anomalies” or changes from one time period to another.

Derr, however, expressed concern about “suspicious” Chinese cargo ships “reaching some places in the Philippines that are very small and do not have good ports.” One freighter, sighted in October and November, was at least 105 meters long, he said.

Another freighter was seen staying for eight days last February near Dinaran Island in Palawan province.

According to Simularity CEO Liz Derr, at an online forum hosted by the Stratbase ADR Institute on Wednesday, more vessels were spotted in August and September. Derr did not elaborate.

But in a report posted on its website, Simularity said that “automated analysis” of satellite images throughout 2020 “indicates that there was a strong presence of large ships near the island of Pag-asa in February 2020. , but that the numbers decreased significantly between March and May. ” . “The report defined large boats as those measuring 30 meters or more in length.

“The number of large ships in the area began to rise again in June and July with a sharp increase in August and September,” the Simularity report said.

Experts have said the ships are part of a maritime militia deployed by China as a multiplier force of the People’s Liberation Army. The militias are being used to aggressively enforce China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, including the Western Philippine Sea, without sparking open warfare.

However, Chinese ships were reported to be harassing or attacking ships from other countries in the region, including the Philippines, which they encountered in the South China Sea.

Data collected by Simularity in recent months also confirmed the almost permanent presence of the Chinese Coast Guard near Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, which are also within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Philippines

In a separate post on its website, Simularity said image analysis showed the presence of at least 150 fishing vessels in the port of Panganiban (Mischief) Reef on October 22. The reef is also within the Philippine EEZ.

The 2016 Hague court ruling said the reef and surrounding waters belonged to the Philippines.

The simularity also noted anomalies or changes in the Panganiban reef and other islands claimed, occupied and militarized by China on Spratlys.

At Panganiban Reef, for example, changes in concrete pavements and parking areas were detected near two radar towers, which had been built by China on the reef. However, other developments in the area were considered insignificant.

Derr said China was much more active in Paracels, where there were new structures and additional construction in some areas.

Vietnam has also been “working hard” the last few months on the Spratlys, he said. It has placed radars and other defense-related infrastructure on some reefs and has built two new platforms.

He added that Simularity had also detected the construction by the Philippines of a port in Pag-asa this year.

Derr said the South China Sea Rapid Alert Service, which Simularity provides for free, will provide data that will appear on the Stratbase website. The service aims to improve awareness of the situation in the region, according to Simularity.

TSB

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