Ignoring repeated dissuasion and warnings from the Chinese side, the Philippines organizes multiple types of vessels to insist on intruding into waters near China's Huangyan Dao under the pretext of delivering supplies to fishing boats on August 11, 2025. During the incident, the Philippine Coast Guard ship 4406 makes multiple high-speed crossing maneuvers in front of the bow of the CCG ship 3104. Photo: Source
The Philippine Coast Guard ship 4406 conducted highly dangerous maneuvers on Chinese law enforcement vessels during its intrusion into waters near China's Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea on August 11, videos exclusively obtained by the Global Times from a source on Wednesday showed.
Ignoring repeated dissuasion and warnings from the Chinese side, the Philippines organized multiple types of vessels to insist on intruding into waters near China's Huangyan Dao under the pretext of delivering supplies to fishing boats. During the incident, the Philippine Coast Guard ship 4406 made multiple high-speed crossing maneuvers in front of the bow of the CCG ship 3104, one of the video clips showed.
Chinese experts slammed that the Philippine ship's maneuvers severely compromised the navigational safety of the Chinese vessel, and seriously violated the most basic principles and rules of maritime navigational safety.
Another video clip, captured from another Chinese vessel during the incident on Monday, showed that the Philippine Coast Guard ship 4406 made a dangerous close-quarters maneuver at 8:02 am, approaching from the Chinese vessel's port side.
Besides, a photo obtained by the Global Times exclusively from a source on Wednesday, taken from the bridge of the Chinese vessel on Monday, showed the Philippine ship making another provocative and dangerous approach at 8:10 am in an apparent attempt to cut across the Chinese ship's path.
This was an organized and premeditated maritime "swarm operation" from the Philippine side which seriously threatened the safety of the professional and restrained Chinese law enforcement vessels and personnel on the scene, Yang Xiao, an expert on maritime issues at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
The courses and maneuvers taken by the Philippine Coast Guard vessel 4406 this time were typically unprofessional, unsafe, and non-compliant. As clearly shown in the video clips, the Philippine vessel repeatedly cut in front of the CCG vessel's course, severely disrupting the navigation safety of Chinese vessel, Yang said.
"We can imagine that a vehicle recklessly speeding, cutting off others, weaving through lanes, and driving wildly on a highway must bear full responsibility for all resulting traffic damages and face legal punishment and the judgment of justice," the expert said.
Therefore, the full responsibility for the resulting damages lies with the Philippine side, and all losses should be entirely borne by the Philippine vessel that provoked and caused the incident at sea. China has every reason and the full right to take all necessary countermeasures, including demands for compensation, Yang said.
The expert also noted US roles in the Philippines' increasingly provocative moves.
US Naval Special Warfare SEALs and combatant-craft crewmen have trained with their Philippine Navy counterparts and Coast Guard personnel in the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait during the Balikatan 2025 joint exercises, while US special forces also held a small vessel defensive tactics training activity for the Philippine Coast Guard last October in Palawan, USNI News, the news website of the US Naval Institute, reported in May.
This gray-zone strategy that blurs the line between coast guard law enforcement and maritime combat operations is an extremely dangerous move that escalates crises and confrontation. It severely violates internationally accepted norms of maritime law enforcement, drags professional enforcement activities into the trap of covert military operations, and could lead to serious miscalculations and heightened risks of conflict at sea, Yang warned.
The Philippines' actions, including provocative approaches and tactical maneuvers, have severely jeopardized the safety of Chinese law enforcement vessels and personnel, who have long maintained a high degree of restraint, rationality, and professionalism in their operations. Henceforth, such acts could be regarded as substantive combat operations threatening Chinese vessels and personnel, and met with correspondingly escalated countermeasures from China, Yang said.
Ding Duo, director of the Research Center for International and Regional Studies at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the Philippines has been continuously hyping its so-called "supply mission to fishing boats" on international media, seizing the opportunity to smear China's legitimate rights protection efforts in the South China Sea and portraying itself as a "victim" to the international community.
Behind these actions lie the Marcos administration's attempts to divert domestic tensions and pursue political self-interest, Manila's scheme to cement its illegal gains and expand unlawful claims in the South China Sea, as well as the country's underlying worries about the future course of its relations with the US, Ding said.
"If the Philippines persists in provocations, it will inevitably face more targeted countermeasures from China. Manila will surely pay the price for its repeated miscalculations and obstinate provocations," Ding noted.
In response to foreign media inquiry about the incident on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday that Huangyan Dao has always been China's territory. On Monday, the Philippines sent multiple Coast Guard vessels, official vessels and so-called fishing vessels to intrude into the territorial waters of Huangyan Dao, and in the meanwhile, Philippine military aircraft also intruded into the air space of Huangyan Dao. The Philippines' moves seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty and rights and interests, and seriously harmed peace and stability at sea.
These moves are of a malign nature. It is legitimate and lawful for China to do what is necessary to safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in accordance with the law, Lin said.
Facts have proven once again that the Philippines' intentional infringement and provocative activities at sea are the root cause for the tensions. China urges the Philippines to stop the infringement and provocative activities at once and refrain from challenging China's firm resolve to safeguard our lawful rights and interests, the spokesperson said.