A Chinese warship has run aground on a reef off Palawan while patrolling contested waters in the West Philippine Sea, an Australian newspaper reported on Friday. Reporter John Gaurnaut of The Sydney Morning Herald, citing unnamed Western diplomatic sources, said the People’s Liberation Army’s naval ship No. 560 [a Jianghu-class frigate.] became “thoroughly stuck” on a reef at Half Moon Shoal during the previous night.The Philippines refers to Half Moon Shoal as Hasa-Hasa Shoal, which military sources said is only about 111 km (60 nautical miles) from the municipality of Rizal on the main island of Palawan province, well within the country’s 370-km (200-nautical-mile) exclusive economic zone. Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan in Palawan confirmed the incident and said it has been 10 days since it happened according to field reports.
When reached for comment, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the military was checking out the report. The militaryÂ’s Western Command (Wescom), which covers the West Philippine Sea, reportedly sent out a ship a plane Friday afternoon to verify.
“If there is a need to offer assistance to help them leave the area, we will help,” Gazmin said.
Lt. Col. Neil Estrella, Wescom spokesperson, said that the military was prepared to provide assistance to the stricken Chinese vessel.
“Any ship or naval vessel in distress, we are duty-bound to provide assistance, regardless of whether or not they intruded into our territorial waters,” Estrella said.
ChinaÂ’s defense ministry on Friday acknowledged that one of its frigates had run aground while conducting patrols in the disputed part of West Philippine Sea. In Manila, the Chinese Embassy issued a statement saying the frigate ran aground around 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Currently the rescue work by the Chinese Navy is under way,” the embassy said. The embassy said no injuries were reported.
The Sydney Morning Herald said salvage operations could be diplomatically challenging, given that the vessel appears to have run aground within the PhilippinesÂ’ exclusive economic zone. The stricken vessel has in the past been involved in aggressively discouraging Filipino fishing boats from the area.