Filipino forces on alert after China deploys coast guard ships closer to
disputed shoal
[August 22, 2025]
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China has deployed coast guard
ships and several militia vessels close to long-grounded Philippine
warship in a disputed South China Sea shoal where Filipino forces have
been put on alert, the Philippine military said Thursday.
At least 14 Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships, some with
high-caliber weapons and backed up by a helicopter and an unmanned
drone, were being monitored around the BRP Sierra Madre in the Second
Thomas shoal. The Chinese forces were spotted on Wednesday and were
still in the vicinity on Thursday, Philippine military officials said.
Two boatloads of Filipino forces were deployed from the Sierra Madre to
prevent the Chinese from coming closer, they said.
Chinese officials did not immediately comment in reaction to the
Philippine military statement. In the past, they have repeatedly
demanded that the Philippines pull the BRP Sierra Madre from the shoal,
where it was deliberately grounded by Manila in 1999 to serve as a
territorial outpost.
The Philippines has refused to accede to the demand of China, which
deployed a number of coast guard ships to permanently keep watch on the
shoal in a continuing territorial standoff.
“This is concerning because of the surge in their actions and number,”
Philippine navy spokesperson Rear Adm. Roy Trinidad told The Associated
Press by telephone. “We have a contingency plan in case this escalates.”
“Amidst all these coercive and aggressive actions, the guidance from the
commander in chief is very clear: we will not back down from any threat
against our territory, sovereignty and sovereign rights,” Trinidad said
without elaborating when asked how the Philippine military would
respond.
One of the five Chinese coast guard ships at the scene used its water
cannon without any target in an apparent drill, and smaller boats were
seen dropping a net across an entrance to the shallows of the shoal
where Philippine ships have passed in the past to deliver supplies to
the Sierra Madre, Trinidad said.
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“China coast guard vessels have been seen conducting maneuvers and
drills involving the use of water cannons at sea while a number of
smaller craft such as rigid-hulled inflatable boats and fast boats
were also deployed inside the shoal,” the Philippine military said
in a statement. “Some of the Chinese coast guard’s fast boats were
also observed to have been upgraded with mounted weapons, including
heavy crew-served weapons.”
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a key global
trade route, and confrontations with the Philippines have
particularly spiked in recent years over a number of areas,
including the Second Thomas Shoal. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and
Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway.
After a violent confrontation that wounded Filipino navy personnel,
including one who lost a thumb in the chaotic encounter at the
Second Thomas Shoal in June 2024, China and the Philippines reached
a temporary arrangement to prevent clashes between Chinese coast
guard and naval forces guarding the shoal from a distance and
Philippine forces delivering fresh forces and food and other
supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre.
Since then, Philippine naval forces have transported forces and
supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre at least eight times without any
incident, with just three to four Chinese coast guard ships keeping
watch from a distance.
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