THE Chinese presence in Rozul (Iroquois) Reef inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is gradually growing, a maritime transparency project that monitors and reports activities in the South China Sea said.
The seabed off Rozul Reef, which lies 125 nautical miles off Palawan, was the subject of recent extensive underwater surveys conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) that found severe damage inflicted upon the marine environment and coral reefs where 33 Chinese maritime vessels were monitored to be “swarming” for more than a month, from Aug. 9 to Sept. 11, 2023.
Retired US Air Force Col. Ray Powell, director of SeaLight, said China’s maritime militia has once again returned to Rozul Reef and has established a “semi-permanent presence” there.
Powell said recent satellite photos show the size and composition of China’s current presence in the area.
He said SeaLight, through its partnership with SkyFi, obtained an April 22 satellite photo showing two groups of rafted Chinese ships at the southern end of the reef—one group composed of five ships and one group composed of two.
Rafting, SeaLight analyst Gaute Friis said, refers to the gray zone tactic of tying ships together at anchor to establish semi-persistent floating outposts that are difficult to disperse due to their collective mass.
Powell said the ships monitored in Rozul Reef are generally components of China’s People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM), known as Spratly Backbone Fishing Vessels (SBFV).
He said the SBFVs, based on a report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, receive “generous government subsidies” to remain at sea nearly the entire year, specifically to assert China’s maritime claims.”
Powell said this gray zone tactic enables the PAFMM to “effectively occupy features without the cost of new construction activity while also being able to claim that the presence of its ships is both legal and unremarkable.”
However, Chinese presence in the reef is not restricted to SBFVs. China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels are often sighted in the area, he said.
Planet Labs, a partner of Sealight, was able to capture images of CCG 4202 conducting an “intrusive patrol mission” within the reef on April 21.
Powell said intrusive patrolling is a key component of “China’s strategy to reinforce its expansive maritime claims in disputed waters.”
“By doing so, China aims to establish a continuous presence and gradually normalize its maritime activities in these areas,” he said.
Powell pointed out that these patrols “demonstrate Beijing’s resolve to create de facto jurisdiction over areas granted to other nations under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“We know the specific identity of this ship because — although it has run mostly ‘dark’ since leaving China — it briefly turned on its Automatic Information System broadcasts while visiting [Rozul Reef],” he said.
The state of the seabed of Rozul Reef is one piece of evidence that the Philippine government plans to use when it files an environmental case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands for its alleged numerous destructive activities in the West Philippine Sea.
Sealight said the publicized destruction of the coral reef in Rozul Reef and subsequent movement by the Philippine government to bring an environmental case against China “is assertive transparency in action.”
However, Powell said with the ongoing “soft occupation” of the reef by China, one of these days, people will find out that Rozul has been permanently occupied by Beijing.
