The Philippines has released footage showing a patrol aircraft flying past a militarized Chinese artificial island on Saturday while conducting surveillance in the contested Spratly Islands, and claims the Chinese side fired flares toward the plane.
Why It Matters
China asserts sovereignty over more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, a crucial global trade route that is also claimed in part by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Tensions between Beijing and Manila have grown in recent years as Chinese vessels set up blockades and use forceful tactics near features that lie within the maritime zone claimed by the U.S. treaty ally, leading to incidents that have raised fears of an armed conflict sparked by miscalculation.
Newsweek reached out to the Philippine coast guard and China’s Ministry of National Defense for comment.
What To Know
The “routine” maritime domain awareness flight was jointly conducted by the Philippine fisheries bureau and coast guard over the Spratly’s Kalayaan Island Group “as part of its legitimate mandate to protect the country’s maritime jurisdiction and the livelihood of Filipino fishermen,” coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela wrote on X.
Video from the aircraft captured activity at Subi Reef—one of three reefs fully militarized by China inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone during its artificial island-building campaign in the 2010s.
Tarriela said the fisheries bureau recorded three flares being fired toward the Philippine plane “during its lawful overflight” near Subi, though Manila has not yet released footage of this to the public.
Two Chinese coast guard cutters and a hospital ship were observed at Subi Reef, along with 29 ships from what analysts refer to as the “Maritime Militia.”
China has dismissed the term, insisting the vessels are crewed by patriotic fishermen. However, these ships are rarely seen engaging in fishing and have frequently deployed to disputed waters for weeks at a time, in what analysts say are “gray-zone” occupations to back Beijing’s claims.
Dozens more Maritime Militia ships were seen at the disputed Whitsun Reef and a feature known locally as Pagkakaisa Banks.
Tarriela said a Chinese warship issued radio challenges roughly 17 miles southeast of Sabina Shoal, another contentious feature in the China-Philippines dispute. He stressed that the Philippine patrol aircraft was “flying well within Philippine sovereignty rights.”
The Philippine patrol also reported Vietnamese activity, including a research vessel southwest of Sandy Cay, as well as two fishing vessels and a coast guard ship anchored near Rurock Island.
An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 sided with the Philippines and rejected China’s expansive South China Sea claims, but Beijing maintains the decision is invalid.
What People Are Saying
Tarriela wrote Sunday in a separate X post: “While the nation is understandably focused on holding corrupt officials and contractors accountable in public works projects, the Philippine Coast Guard remains steadfast in fulfilling our patriotic duty: patrolling our waters and skies in the West Philippine Sea.”
Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China’s Defense Ministry said in October while responding to an earlier Philippine patrol: “The Chinese side will firmly safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests with legitimate, legal, professional and prudent actions to protect our rights. We would never allow any provocation and trouble-making to work, nor would we leave any room for blackmailing the big by the small.”
What Happens Next
China is expected to keep expanding its activities in the area, while Manila has vowed to continue challenging and publicizing such actions. The Philippines is also strengthening military cooperation with the U.S. and other partners active in the region, including through joint patrols within its exclusive economic zone—moves Beijing has called destabilizing.
