4/8/2013 How Far Will the Dragon Swim/fly

THE SWIMMING DRAGON ALSO FLIES

The Spratly Islands mostly uninhabited and unihabitable

        A Spratly Island with an air strip
Notice the Location of the Spratly's. Clearly the Philippines have a claim, Malaysia and Vietnam possibly, but China is nowhere near the general vicinity yet claims them all. The green. broken line represents China's claim. Check it around 
the vicinity of Palawan Province, Philippines. The Chinese claim practically runs up to the beaches of Palawan.

TWO SUSPECTED CHINESE MILITARY JETS INTRUDE OVER PHILIPPINE AIR SPACE 

ARTICLE published by Business Morror

SUSPECTED Chinese fighter jets, reportedly Russian-made multirole SukhoiS, again intruded into Philippine airspace particularly over the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in Palawan in the middle of last week, the Navy said.

The KIG has been constituted into a municipality under the province of Palawan.

The intrusion happened a day before the opening of the 2013 Philippines-US Exercise Balikatan, where some 8,000 Filipino and American soldiers are participating. The exercise is going in Luzon.

“Naval operating forces in Palawan have reported sightings of two unidentified aircraft passing at high speed and high altitude over the vicinity of Pagasa Island,” Col. Edgard Arevalo, Naval spokesman for West Philippine Sea issues and other special naval concerns, said.

The sighting was recorded and reported by Commo. Joseph Rustom Peña, commander of the Naval Forces West based in Puerto Princesa City, in his report to the Navy flag officer in command, Vice Adm. Jose Luis Alano.

“They [aircraft], that headed north and came from the southwest, were spotted on Thursday, April 4, at 9:50 a.m.,” Arevalo said, quoting Peña’s report.

Pagasa Island is one of the barangays of KIG where an undeveloped airstrip is found. Less than 500 civilians and an undisclosed number of military troops are on the island.

The KIG town is composed of seven islets and two reefs on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and is led by Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon. The area is part of the disputed Spratly Islands.

The Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia are claiming portions of the territories. China claims the whole area.

Earlier, military sources disclosed the airspace intrusion of alleged Chinese Sukhoi fighter jets in the WPS.

“The intrusions allegedly happened last week and early this week. Local fishermen who reported the incident claimed the fighter jets were always in tandem,” the source said late last week.

He added that the three airspace violations happened in the KIG. The source said it was not clear if the Russian-made multirole fighter jets were part of the Chinese naval drill that was held recently on the South China Sea and “deliberately” intruded over KIG.

LINK TO COMPLETE STORY: http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/11696-2-suspected-chinese-fighter-jets-intrude-on-philippine-airspace