8 ships 'accompanying' Chinese aircraft carrier off Luzon - PH Navy

MANILA – The Philippine Navy (PN) on Thursday confirmed that a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) aircraft carrier, along with eight other ships, were spotted and monitored operating within the waters of Northern Luzon.

PN spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the aircraft carrier Shandong (CV-17), six destroyers and frigates, and two support vessels were first detected roughly 100 nautical miles northwest of Burgos, Ilocos Norte on April 22.

The destroyers and frigates are serving as the aircraft carrier's escorts while the support vessels are either tankers or replenishment ships providing the flotilla with fuel and other essential supplies.

"This was one of the larger or unusual formations we have monitored," he said in an interview.

"And we kept monitoring them until they were almost within the bounds of our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) on the western part of Cagayan as of yesterday (Wednesday) evening."

These ships got as close as three nautical miles to the country's northern island, but Trinidad said this is allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) under the right of innocent passage.

"Provided that it is continuous and expeditious," he added.

Trinidad further said they deployed the necessary assets to challenge the Chinese carrier battle group, which did not reply.

"We always challenge foreign warships passing through our territorial waters to our EEZ. This time, we didn't get any reply," he added.

While it is normal procedure for any foreign warship or vessel to reply when challenged, Trinidad said there are instances that these ships will not reply.

Asked where these ships could have come from, the PN official said it is likely that the vessels came from China's South Sea Fleet.

He said the radio challenge was issued by the country's land-based monitoring systems.

Quizzed on whether the deployment of the Chinese carriers and its escorting vessels have something to do with the ongoing 'Balikatan" exercises, Trinidad said they are not "giving any meaning" to this.

"What we do is we monitor and we challenge and we respond as necessary," he said.

"What we do is we challenge them, we monitor them, to ensure that they traverse continuously and expeditiously." (PNA)

(2025/04/24-10:28)