Footage Shows China Confronting US Ally Philippines in Disputed Waters

The Chinese coast guard released footage on Thursday showing one of its vessels pursing a Philippine government boat at a disputed territory in the South China Sea, marking the latest flare-up in the neighbors' quarrel over maritime rights.

The China Coast Guard—the Chinese government's go-to agency to assert ownership over regional waters—said it expelled a Philippine fisheries bureau boat on maneuvers at Scarborough Shoal, the submerged reef Beijing wrested from Manila's control in a standoff in 2012.

The Philippines' National Security Council said there was "no truth to the statement," and that its boat remains on patrol at the territory, which lies within the waters of the country's internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.

Neither the Chinese nor Philippine coast guard responded to written requests for comment before publication.

Scarborough Shoal—known as Bajo de Masinloc in Manila and Huangyan Island in Beijing—is less than 140 miles from Luzon, the Philippines' most populous island, and almost 700 miles from China's nearest province, Hainan.

It is just one potential regional flash point in the bilateral relationship, which remains at a recent low amid Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s attempts to retain crucial access to traditional fishing grounds around the Spratly Islands archipelago.

The Philippines is a long-time U.S. ally, which President Joe Biden has pledged to defend militarily against any armed attack. This includes in the South China Sea, over which China claims dominion, in defiance of an arbitral tribunal's 2016 ruling in The Hague.

China Coast Guard video published by the state-owned Global Times newspaper showed one of the agency's white-hulled ships chasing the smaller Philippine boat in a zigzag. Coast guard spokesperson Gan Yu said the Philippine vessel "illegally intruded" into waters near the reef, before Chinese authorities "controlled its course and expelled it."

"China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island and its adjacent waters," Gan said.

Manila, which recently dispatched a Philippine Coast Guard ship to Scarborough Shoal for a nine-day patrol that concluded on February 9, announced on Thursday that another "rotational deployment" had been underway since February 14.

Eduardo Año, Marcos' national security adviser, said the Philippine government "has taken decisive action to protect the rights and safety of Filipino fishermen in the waters of Bajo De Masinloc."

"The national government has directed the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to deploy their vessels for rotational deployment in [Bajo De Masinloc] starting this month," Año said. "These efforts aim to ensure the safety and security of our Filipino fishermen in their traditional fishing grounds."

"Any attempts by state actors to intimidate or drive away our fishermen are clear violations of international law and disregard the decision of the Arbitral Award," Año said.