The Philippine navy is analysing a suspected Chinese submarine drone found in its waters this week in an incident that police said had “potential national security implications”.
Fishermen found the two-metre-long object about six miles off the coast of San Pascual in Masbate province, in the central Philippines, on December 30. The yellow torpedo-shaped device has fins and bears Chinese markings and the designation “HY-119”.
“Based on our open-source research on the internet … HY-119 refers to a Chinese underwater navigation and communication system,” Andre Dizon, the regional police director in Masbate, said. “It has an antenna and an eye [camera] that can be used for viewing. Based on our research, this can be used for monitoring and reconnaissance.”
It was not clear how long the device had been in Philippine territorial waters
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE/BICOL REGION/AFP
Ray Powell, director of Stanford University-affiliated think tank SeaLight, told the local website Philstar: “If this is a Chinese drone, as seems likely, it indicates a troubling level of Chinese interest in the Philippines’ internal archipelagic waters.” The drone could have been involved in mapping operations for future submarine deployments, he added.
The Philippine navy and the Chinese embassy in Manila have yet to comment on the discovery of the apparent underwater drone. The device was inactive when found, and it is not clear how long it had been in Philippine territorial waters.
Its discovery comes amid increasing tensions in the South China Sea as China and the Philippines contest control of several reefs and islets. Manila has limited maritime resources but must protect a sprawling territory of some 7,000 islands, while Bejing’s claims to sovereignty in the sea are also disputed by Taiwan, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
“We cannot go toe to toe with China,” Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the Philippines national security council, was reported as saying this week. “We are not a rising superpower like China who has enormous resources at their disposal, so we have to live with what we have.”
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Last month the Philippines said that Chinese coastguard vessels rammed and fired water cannon at Philippine fishing boats in an “aggressive action” near Scarborough Shoal, a collection of reefs and rocks in prime fishing grounds in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
In 2012 China seized control of the shoal, which lies 150 miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon and almost 560 miles from China’s Hainan. Beijing claims the shoal as Huangyan Island. The Philippines has accused Chinese patrols of harassing its vessels and blocking fishing by Filipinos.
