Philippine Coast Guard Receives 'Welcome To China' SMS While Patrolling Own Economic Zone

Passengers of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) aircraft on a maritime air patrol over the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, received text messages bearing, "Welcome to China!" even if they were more than 700 miles away from the nearest part of the mainland China.

Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the incident happened during a PCG's "maritime domain awareness" flight, which keeps track of Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea, a part of the South China Sea, which the Philippines claims.

The report noted that the SMS message is usually received by travelers entering Chinese airspace. However, getting the message above the shoal was highly unusual since it's 121 miles away from the Philippine island of Palawan and within the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Aside from the text message, the 12-seater Philippine naval aircraft also received a radio challenge from China when it reached 10 nautical miles from the shoal.

Chinese authorities warned the PCG aircraft that it was "entering the vicinity of Chinese territory" and asked them to leave immediately.

The Filipino pilot responded to Chinese authorities, arguing it was a routine flight within the Philippines' EEZ.

During the flight, the PCG aircraft spotted at least 26 suspected Chinese militia and coast guard vessels near the contested shoal.

According to Philippine news outlet GMA News, the PCG ordered a vessel of the China Coast Guard to leave the area, arguing that their ship was inside the Philippine EEZ.

The Philippines' National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) noted that the China Coast Guard 5304 is close to the BRP Sierra Madre, a landing ship that intentionally ran aground near the shoal.

In a statement, PCG commandant Adm. Artemio Abu vowed not to "abandon even a square inch of the territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power."

The Philippine naval aircraft's visit to the shoal came a few weeks after a Chinese coast guard vessel pointed a military-grade laser at a Philippine naval ship, causing temporary blindness to its Filipino crew.

The incident was condemned by the Philippines and its allies, including the U.S.

But the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied equipping its naval vessel with a military-grade laser, noting that their coast guard ship only had a hand-held laser speed detector and a hand-held greenlight pointer.

The presence of Chinese military vessels highlights the precarious situation in the highly-disputed South China Sea.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Sec. Enrique Manalo expressed concern that the Chinese harassment against Filipino fishermen and other Philippine vessels in the area became a "daily situation."

During his speech at the Munich Security Conference, the Philippines' top diplomat urged the international community to help his country and other claimants in the South China Sea to assert their rights and keep China in check.

The situation in the highly-contested area was also recently discussed by Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin III and Philippine Defense Officer-in-Charge and Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez.

In his conversation with his Filipino counterpart, Austin reiterated the U.S.'s commitment to support the Philippines' sovereign rights and defend their ally from an armed attack through the Mutual Defense Treaty.

Austin and Galvez also discussed plans to enhance the U.S.-Philippine military ties, including resuming combined maritime activities in the South China Sea to thwart further Chinese incursions.