Filipino forces on alert after China deploys coast guard ships closer to disputed shoal

In this photo, taken from video and provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a damaged Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, is seen beside a Chinese Navy vessel, left, after they accidentally collided while chasing a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Monday Aug. 11, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — 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.

“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.

Jim Gomez, The Associated Press