By Priam Nepomuceno/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Tuesday requested all Chinese naval vessels to keep their “AIS” (automatic identification system) on while passing through Philippine waters.
He made this request to the Chinese government after China’s sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, passed Sibutu Strait last month without prior knowledge of Philippine authorities.
“These ships apparently when they passed by Sibutu Strait, they turned off their automatic identification system, causing our radar not to detect them,” Lorenzana said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Sibutu Passage is a deep channel some 18 miles (around 29 kilometers) wide that separates Borneo from the Sulu Archipelago.
AIS is an automatic tracking system that uses transponders on ships and is used by vessel traffic services.
Apparently, these ships are turning off their AIS as they do not want to be seen or detected. “In any part of the world if you shut off your AIS, meaning you do not want yourself to be known by other people,” the DND chief stressed.
And even if they have turned-off their AIS, they can still be spotted in the daylight by spotters or lookouts.
“And based on our talks with (Chinese) Ambassador Zhao (Jianhua) and he volunteered this information to me, in the future he will request that anytime these ships pass by our territorial waters, they (will) inform us and ang sabi ko sa kanila, at saka wag nila dapat patayin yung AIS nila (and I told them that they should not also shut down their AIS),” the DND chief stressed.
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