THE world's largest coast guard ship has joined other Chinese vessels that have been swarming near the Ayungin Shoal, which is inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to United States-based national security expert Ray Powell, the CCG (China Coast Guard) 5901, nicknamed "the monster" because of its size, joined another CCG vessel, 4203, and the "still-growing swarm" of 32 Chinese maritime vessels in Ayungin, identified in international maritime maps as the Second Thomas Shoal.

Powell said he used the automatic identification system (AIS) to pinpoint CCG 5901 as of Friday morning.

FROM AIR TO SEA A Philippine marine jumps off from a US marine UH-1Y Venom helicopter during a helocast and maritime patrol training exercise as part of the semi-annual Philippine-US military exercise dubbed Marine Aviation Support Activity (MASA) 23, off a marine training base in Ternate town, Cavite province, on Friday, July 14, 2023. PHOTO BY AFP

The 12,000-ton CCG 5901 is armed with heavy machine guns and has a helicopter platform and a hangar large enough for bigger rotary-wing aircraft.

By tonnage, the CCG 5901 is double the size of a US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, and is also bigger than an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer.

Prior to its sighting off Ayungin, CCG 5901 had been monitored in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea, a marginal area of the South China Sea within the Indonesian EEZ.

Beijing claims ownership of large swathes of the area in the West Philippine Sea under its "nine-dash line" policy.

In the past, China has used its coast guard vessels and Chinese maritime militia to harass, intimidate and shadow Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

Philippine security officials have not confirmed the latest massing of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

"It would seem to be that China is sending a message to the Philippines that it intends to back up its claims with a substantial show of force," said Powell, director of SeaLight and Project Lead for Project Myoushu at Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, and a 2021 Fellow at Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute.

There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese vessels gathering in huge numbers inside the country's EEZ.

In March, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessel, a CCG vessel and at least 42 suspected Chinese Maritime Militia (CMM) vessels were sighted 4.5 to 8 nautical miles from Pag-asa Island.

Last June 30, at least 48 Chinese fishing vessels were spotted by Philippine air patrols swarming off Iroquois Reef, located south of the oil- and gas-rich Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea.

Gaute Friis, Defense Innovation Scholar at Stanford's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, describes swarming as a tactic "to overwhelm and intimidate other countries' assets, assert dominance, or provide a security screen for certain Chinese ships on special missions."

As tensions mount in the West Philippine Sea over more aggressive incursions by Chinese ships, a Pulse Asia survey indicated that the majority of Filipinos are divided over whether or not to take sides if war in the Indo-Pacific breaks out between China and the US, one of the Philippines' staunchest military allies.

The survey, commissioned by former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, found that 45 percent of the 1,200 respondents said the Philippines should choose which superpower to support, while another 45 percent believed that the country should not. The remaining 10 percent are either undecided or have refused to give an answer.

"Despite the strong pro-American sentiments in the Philippines, the survey results indicate that Filipinos are torn between China and the US in the context of an Indo-Pacific conflict because it would be catastrophic to our country," Roque said.

"Our economy has yet to fully recover from the inflationary effect of the Russia-Ukraine war, several miles away from the Philippines. We cannot afford to be embroiled in a war that is so close to our shores," he said.

The poll, conducted on June 19 to 23, showed that by geographical area, the Visayas tallied the highest affirmative response at 62 percent.

By economic standing, Class ABC chalked up the highest affirmative response at 54 percent. Most respondents from Luzon (54 percent) and Class D (47 percent) answered in the negative.

The survey showed that 78 percent agreed with the constitutional provision of renouncing war and adhering to peace and freedom with all nations as a matter of national policy.

Roque said it was the dominant opinion among the respondents, regardless of geography and socio-economic status.

He reiterated that the Philippines must not allow to be dragged into a proxy war "perpetrated by any war-mongering hegemon."

"Likewise, our government should never permit a foreign state to use our territory, either through a military agreement or an unholy alliance, in attacking another country," the former party-list representative said.

"Even as a third-party participant in a war, the Philippines stands to risk the lives and well-being of countless Filipinos. It is also counterproductive to our socio-economic gains in recent years, including our march towards an upper middle-income nation status," he said.

On Friday, Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros said that by ignoring the growing consensus coalescing around the Philippine victory in the West Philippine Sea arbitral ruling, China further isolates itself from the international community.

On July 12, 2016, the arbitral court in The Hague invalidated China's claim to almost all of the South China Sea, ruling that China's claim had no basis in international law and that it had violated the Philippines' sovereign right to fish and explore resources in waters within the country's EEZ.

"The world has spoken: the territorial claims embodied in the so-called '9-dash line' have no basis in history or international law. Despite the name, the South China Sea is not Chinese, and the Chinese government has no special authority therein, other than as provided for in the Unclos [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]," said Hontiveros, reacting to the statement of the Chinese Embassy in Manila regarding the arbitral ruling.

During the seventh anniversary of the landmark ruling, the embassy reiterated that China "does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action based on the award."

Hontiveros said that if China keeps ignoring the 2016 ruling, the Marcos administration should seriously consider reviewing our national policy toward Beijing.