Philippines plans flight-tracking system in disputed South China Sea

The Philippines said on Monday it would install a civilian flight-tracking system in the disputed South China Sea after China landed several aircraft on one of its man-made islands in the potential flashpoint region.

The automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) machine, which detects aircraft positions using satellite signals, will be operational by November on Pagasa island, the biggest Filipino-occupied feature in the disputed Spratlys, said Rodante Joya, acting director of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

An average of 200 civilian flights pass over the Spratlys daily, Joya said, adding the Pagasa surveillance system was part of a broader 10-billion-peso (US$209 million) effort to expand the country’s commercial flight radar coverage to 80 per cent from the current 30 per cent.

“Our objective is to track all commercial flights passing over our airspace,” Joya said, adding the radars would not be used to monitor military aircraft.

China has built massive structures over South China Sea reefs claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan, including a 3,000-metre runway on Fiery Cross reef.

The Philippines has expressed concern that China’s test landings on Fiery Cross reef earlier this month would lay the groundwork for the declaration of an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) similar to the one Beijing claimed over the East China Sea in 2013 that riled Japan.