Several Chinese nationals posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly gathering intelligence on Philippine Coast Guard ship and personnel movement in Palawan province near the South China Sea. According to Filipino media, residents photographed the suspected spies hiding in resort facilities and filming the coast guard base. Locals also said the Chinese nationals allegedly used drones without applying for permits and installed surveillance cameras on the resort's coconut trees.
The suspects denied the espionage charges, but Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. stated that the evidence collected from the Chinese fake tourists’ devices show photos and video of military camps, ships, and facilities. National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago said that several accomplices of the suspects are still at large and authorities have launched a manhunt for them.
Two weeks prior, NBI agents arrested a Chinese man surnamed Deng, a longtime resident of Makati City in the greater Manila area, for allegedly collecting information on terrain and buildings around military bases with a vehicle equipped with detection instruments. At a press conference on Monday, Deng's wife denied that her husband was a Chinese spy, though media sources have since revealed that investigations have led to several other arrests, many of whom are related to Deng.
The South China Sea is bordered in the north by China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines, and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands. Continuing territorial disputes have many experts regarding the area as Asia's most potentially dangerous point of conflict.