PHL: China patrols edging closer to Luzon

CHINESE MARITIME FORCES moved closer to Philippine shorelines last year as Beijing sought to tighten control over the contested Scarborough Shoal, prompting Manila to extend the deployment of its coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, Philippine authorities said on Thursday.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said China increased the number of navy and coast guard ships operating near the shoal, with patrols edging nearer to the coastline of Luzon, the country’s main island.

The agency described the activities as illegal and said they marked a shift in China’s posture compared with the previous year.

“China Coast Guard vessels conducting illegal patrols have been operating progressively closer to the Luzon coasts,” the PCG said in a statement. It added that the change prompted Manila to maintain a longer and more sustained presence in the area.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Scarborough Shoal — known as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Dao in China — is claimed by both countries. China has effectively controlled access to the feature since 2012, limiting the activities of Filipino fishermen.

A United Nations-backed arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that the shoal is a traditional fishing ground, a decision Beijing continues to reject.

The shoal lies about 240 kilometers (km) west of Luzon and roughly 900 km from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese landmass. It is prized for its fishing grounds and sits near key shipping routes in the South China Sea.

The PCG said Chinese patrols last year forced Filipino fishermen farther away from the shoal, pushing them closer to the Luzon coastline. In response, the agency said it significantly increased its deployments around the shoal.

“On average, PCG vessels spent nearly 27 days per month at sea in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc in 2025,” the agency said, adding that the sustained presence was aimed at preventing the normalization of illegal Chinese patrols and protecting local fishermen.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing have intensified over the past year as China presses its expansive claims in the South China Sea, much of which overlaps with the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Maritime monitoring group SeaLight said in May last year that Chinese activity around Scarborough Shoal had risen sharply, with patrol patterns gradually shifting eastward toward Luzon.

The group recorded about 1.5 million Chinese ship identification pings around the shoal, up from roughly 724,000 a year earlier, while Philippine maritime activity in the area rose fourfold.

China has said it plans to strengthen monitoring of the shoal while carrying out conservation work.

In September, Beijing approved the creation of a 3,500-hectare marine reserve at the shoal’s northeast rim, a move Manila has criticized as a pretext for further entrenching Chinese control. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio