00:00Meanwhile, tensions in the West Philippine Sea escalate as Philippine Coast Guard's aerial patrol encounters Chinese warship and fighter jets near Scarborough Shoal.
00:10The close-range maneuvers came amid ongoing disputes and recent collisions. Patrick DeJesus narrates the story.
00:19Two days after the incident at Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine Coast Guard once again conducted a Maritime Domain Awareness or MDA flight on Wednesday morning.
00:30The Cesta Caravan aircraft was deployed for this mission with several members of the media on board including PTV News.
00:3730 nautical miles from Panatag Shoal, the MDA flight spotted the littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati of the U.S. Navy sailing as part of its freedom of navigation operations.
00:50Following it was a warship of China's People's Liberation Army Navy.
00:54From the PCG's MDA flight, the radio challenges exchanged between the PLA Navy and the U.S. Navy could be heard.
01:02Also in the vicinity was the USS Higgins contradicting the Chinese Navy's claim
01:29that it had driven away the U.S. Navy destroyer.
01:32I don't think that that would be accurate because based on the statement of the U.S. Navy,
01:41they were just carrying out a routine phone-ups.
01:45So it doesn't mean that the reason why they were not there anymore was because they were driven away by the Chinese warship.
01:54The PLA Navy also made several radio challenges to the PCG aircraft.
01:58As the aerial patrol reached about one nautical mile from Iscarpuru Shoal,
02:17a fighter jet from the PLA Naval Air Force appeared, possibly taking off from an aircraft carrier.
02:24It made several dangerous maneuvers at distances of 200 to 500 feet beside and even above the PCG aircraft.
02:37The Chinese fighter jet tailed and circled the PCG plane for about 20 minutes.
02:43For safety, the PCG aircraft moved away from the area until the fighter jet eventually disengaged.
02:50According to the PCG, the aggressive action of the Chinese aircraft cannot be linked to Monday's incident.
02:56One thing is clear, every time we conduct an MDA flight over BDM,
03:02they are also harassing and endangering the safety of the Coast Guard aircraft.
03:08Four China Coast Guard vessels were also spotted, but the CCG 3104, heavily damaged in a collision with a PLA Navy warship,
03:18was no longer in the vicinity of Iscarpuru Shoal.
03:21After the collision between the Chinese vessels on Monday,
03:24The PCG said there will be no changes in its approach to asserting the Philippines' rights and sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea,
03:33as they adhere to international law and ensure safety both at sea and in the air.
03:38This is a learning experience for the People's Republic of China.
03:45For so many years, we have been reminding them to stop dangerous maneuver,
03:50to stop risky blocking, to adhere to the collision regulation,
03:56because there is a very high chance of miscalculation and this kind of collision incident would happen.
04:03From the West Philippine Sea, Patrick De Jesus, from the National TV for a New and Better Philippines.
