AIS SPOOFING. A Chinese research vessel identified as “JIA HAI KE 7” holds position approximately 38 nautical miles off Itbayat, Batanes in this photo taken during a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Maritime Domain Awareness flight on Monday (Sept. 28, 2026). The PCG confirmed the vessel was falsifying its Automatic Identification System data to conceal its true movements near a corridor hosting critical undersea communication cables. (Photo courtesy of PCG)
MANILA – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed a Chinese research vessel was falsifying its Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to conceal its true movements while loitering off Itbayat, Batanes, near a corridor hosting critical undersea communication cables.
In a statement on Monday, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela said the vessel, identified as “JIA HAI KE 7,” was confirmed holding position at coordinates about 37.84 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat, within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
During a Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) flight ordered by PCG Commandant Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan on Monday, PCG aircraft visually confirmed the vessel about 38 nautical miles off Itbayat. The aircraft challenged it multiple times over radio, asserting Philippine sovereign rights and demanding that it state its intentions and cease any unauthorized activity.
The vessel did not respond to any of the challenges, Tarriela said.
He said the ship’s movement pattern — holding position rather than steaming on a steady course and speed — was not consistent with innocent passage, but with the behavior of a vessel conducting marine scientific research.
JIA HAI KE 7 was detected not through its own AIS broadcast but by the PCG Monitoring Station in Itbayat, he said.
Verification using the Canada-provided Dark Vessel Detection system revealed a physically impossible AIS trail.
The vessel reported departing Xiamen, Fujian at 12:59 a.m. on Sept. 21, then broadcasting from off Bindari, Papua New Guinea — more than 2,000 nautical miles away — by 8:10 p.m. the same day. It then transmitted from northwest of Itbayat by 6:55 a.m. on Monday.
The PCG assessed this as deliberate AIS spoofing meant to conceal the vessel’s true movements from Philippine authorities, adding that its presence would have gone undetected without the Itbayat monitoring station.
Tarriela cited the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which requires vessels to transmit accurate AIS data at all times.
He said the falsified position data, combined with the vessel’s silence on the radio, suggests it did not want its activity known.
According to open sources, JIA HAI KE 7 is a 2,000-ton, 70-meter vessel built for Zhuhai Jiahai Marine Technology Co. and placed in service in April 2025. It is described as China’s first privately owned research ship equipped with a dynamic positioning system and quiet electric propulsion designed to hold station precisely over a fixed point on the seabed for marine geological survey. It has reportedly operated alongside seabed-drilling ships.
Tarriela said the waters off Batanes and the Luzon Strait host critical submarine cable corridors linking the Philippines to Northeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific, raising concern over the security of the country’s undersea communications infrastructure and the potential military use of data collected by the vessel.
The PCG will continue tracking the vessel through its monitoring stations, the Dark Vessel Detection system, and follow-on MDA flights, he said.
It will take all necessary measures under Philippine law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to challenge and drive away vessels conducting unauthorized activities in Philippine maritime zones, he added.
The deployment is in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to protect the country’s maritime domain and not tolerate unauthorized foreign research within Philippine waters. (PNA)
