The Taiwan Coast Guard claims that they owned some areas off the coast of Batanes, which caused a stand-off between our Philippine Coast Guard and the Taiwanese coast guard. The incident was recorded on tape by the Philippine Coast Guard who noted that the incident took place at around 2:00 AM of June 6, 2015.
Watch the Stand-Off of the Philippine Coast Guard & Taiwan Coast Guard:
The MCS 3004 of the Philippine Coast Guard spotted the much bigger Taiwan Coast Guard off the waters of Itbayat, Batanes Group of Islands in Northern Luzon. The Taiwan Coast Guard signaled with a spotlight to the Philippine Coast Guard and made an exchange of communications between the two coast guard vessels.
During the stand-off, Commander Angel Viliran of the Philippine Coast Guard MCS 3004 identified themselves and asked for the intentions of the Taiwan Coast Guard on its entry within the Philippines 23 nautical mile of our Exclusive Economic Zone.
However, the Taiwan Coast Guard responded that they were within their Exclusive Economic Zone. Although the Taiwanese Coast Guard radioed that they will leave the area but the foreign vessel stayed for at least two hours during the stand-off.
The Philippine Coast Guard insisted that the area is part of the Philippine territory and stood their ground despite the fact that the MCS 3004 doesn’t have contact with the Philippine Coast Guard headquarters. Luckily a cargo vessel captained by a Filipino overheard the exchange over the radio and relayed the message to the nearest frequency in case something happened to the Philippine Coast Guard.
