Source: Chinese fighter jets have reportedly flown over West Philippine Sea thrice last week

From InterAksyon (Apr 6): Source: Chinese fighter jets have reportedly flown over West Philippine Sea thrice last week

Chinese fighter jets have reportedly flown over the West Philippine Sea three times a week after a landing ship tank—also from China—intruded into one of the islets of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), highly placed military sources told InterAksyon.com.

“The intrusions allegedly happened last week and early this week. Local fishermen who reported the incident claimed the fighter jets were always in tandem,” said the source who was not authorized to speak on the matter.

All the three airspace violations took place at the Kalayaan Island Group, a municipality of Palawan composed of 7 islets and 2 reefs found within the West Philippine Sea. Led by Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon, the area lies within oil-rich Spratly Islands (South China Sea) that China is claiming.

It is also being claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

The source said it was not clear if the Russian-made multirole fighter jets were part of the Chinese naval drill that was slated recently in the South China Sea and “deliberately” flown over KIG.

For his part, the spokesman for WPS and other naval special concerns said there was a report by the commander of the Naval Forces West (NAVFORWEST) based in Palawan to Flag-Officer-in-Command (FOIC) Vice Admiral Jose Luis Alano.

However, there was not mention about fighter jet intrusion, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

“There was a fresh report submitted by our NAVFORWEST commander Commodore Joseph Rustom Peña to the FOIC but it has no mention of such incident of intrusion,” Arevalo said.

He said the Navy conducts regular territorial sovereignty patrol missions in the WPS but he did not say how many patrol ships are roaming around the area.

Arevalo also said that the Philippine military is capable of detecting high-flying jets intruding into the country’s airspace.

“Yes, we are capable of that through our Coast Watch System,” Arevalo said. “But I have to check on that if our CWS has activated in the Palawan area. We have this kind of monitoring system in the south, the one that we have in Zamboanga City.”

In view of the report, Arevalo said his office will still have to verify first the alleged violation of airspace before issuing any further statement.

More two weeks before the Friday opening of the 2013 PH-US Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises, local fishermen claimed ships with Chinese markings entered KIG during night and allegedly unloaded construction materials on the shallow part of an islet.

The military reacted by sending ships and aircraft to verify the report but no longer issued a statement about the matter.

Meanwhile, some 8,000 Filipino and American soldiers were deployed in Luzon, particularly in Zambales and Tarlac, for the April 5-17 joint military exercises.

Previously, US government and high-ranking military officials visited the country amid the rising tensions between claimants of the disputed Spratlys. This is aside from the bellicose North Korea about its nuclear threat against the US, South Korea, and possibly Japan.

This year alone, 8 warships such as nuclear-capable submarines and destroyers had visited Manila. The USS Tortuga, an amphibious dock landing ship, is currently anchored at Subic Bay in Zambales for the Balikatan.

The military said a squadron of F/A-18 Hornets supersonic fighter jets is also expected to arrive at Clark Air Base in Pampanga to join exercises. Earlier, 20 US aircrafts had already arrived at the military facility.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/58814/source-chinese-fighter-jets-have-reportedly-flown-over-west-philippine-sea-thrice-last-week