Philippines sees spike in presence of Chinese ships in South China Sea in June

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

NEARLY 50 Chinese navy and coast guard ships were monitored at contested features in the South China Sea in June, the Philippine military said on Tuesday, in what it described as the largest presence of Chinese vessels observed in a month, this year.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Chinese presence at disputed shoals and atolls in the South China Sea spiked to 49 ships in June, from the average of 29 China Coast Guard and People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels monitored per month in the first half of 2025.

“Regardless of these numbers, the Philippine Navy remains fully on top of the situation, demonstrating continued heightened vigilance and sustained presence in our maritime domain,” military spokeswoman Francel Margareth Padilla told a news briefing.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

China sent the biggest number of ships to Scarborough Shoal in June, which included nine coast guard vessels and 14 navy ships, Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent T. Trinidad said in the same briefing.

Twelve Chinese coast guard ships were monitored alongside 2 Chinese Navy vessels at Second Thomas Shoal, while nine coast guard ships and three navy ships were also spotted around Thitu Island, he added. Both features are occupied by the Philippines.

“These 49 ships were not there all the time, but they were in and out of the different features,” Mr. Trinidad said.

He said the Philippine Navy cannot ascertain why China ramped up its presence in the South China Sea. “We don’t have a direct reference for the tactical implications of why the number increased to 49 — up from 41 last month and 31 the month before that.”

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea via a U-shaped, 1940s nine-dash line map that overlaps with the exclusive waters of the Philippines and neighbors like Vietnam and Malaysia, irking Manila as Beijing continues to claim sovereignty over the waterbody by deploying an armada of coast guard and navy ships. A United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016 voided China’s expansive claims for being illegal, a ruling that Beijing does not recognize.

The Philippines has sought to expand its security ties beyond the US, its traditional ally, by engaging with other western countries and deepening regional alliances as it faces an increasingly assertive China.

Just last month, the Philippines held its first joint maritime drills with Japan in the South China Sea, since the ratification of their Reciprocal Access Agreement.

JAPAN DESTROYERS

The Philippine Navy also announced on Tuesday it will send a six-man team to Japan in August to conduct an inspection of the six Abukuma-class destroyers used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which the Japan-based newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported as being offered to the Philippines.

“There are so many things that we have to consider,” Philippine Navy spokesman Captain John Percie Alcos told reporters after a media briefing at the Philippine military’s headquarters, citing costs to refurbish and retrofit new weaponry.

The ships’ inspections will last around 2 weeks and would take the six-man team that includes combat weapon systems officers, a ship maintenance expert and a financial analyst about a month to assess and report about, said Mr. Alcos.

He said the Abukuma-class ships could be reclassified as a corvette or frigate by the Philippine Navy, depending on the inspections’ outcome.

“Depending on the capabilities that it still has and the system that we plan to install, these ships may be reclassified as a corvette or as a frigate,” Mr. Alcos said.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. expects the destroyers to add to fleet size, but noted it “will depend on whether we need to spend money for weaponizing it, for interoperability, for secure communications.”

The Philippines is looking to modernize its naval fleet, and it has increasingly relied on South Korea as a key supplier of warships.

The Defense department has put in an order with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to build at least 10 vessels, ranging from missile frigates to offshore patrol vessels.

COMMON THREAT

Also on Tuesday, Mr. Teodoro called for deeper cooperation among Manila’s allies to counter what he described as a common threat to regional peace.

He said that deeper security engagements with allies is now “vital” more than ever amid “cross-regional” issues that have broader geopolitical effects for the Philippines.

“Since the challenges affecting the quality of life of people in the Indo-Pacific are affected by events in the Middle East, Europe, even in the Arctic and Antarctic… cross-regional exchanges become vital, particularly for smaller nations,” he said in his speech at the opening of a top-level military forum in Manila.

“With collective action, collective purpose and collective resolve, we then deter any unilateral attempt to reshape the world order into a less free on,” Mr. Teodoro said.

This year, the Philippines is co-hosting the three-day Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium alongside the US, bringing in military leaders from allied countries across the Indo-Pacific in Manila to discuss how to advance com-mon security goals and foster deeper military cooperation.

Mr. Teodoro said the Philippines is ramping up efforts to widen its security alliances motivated by the need to address a “commonality of threats and threat actors” globally.

The Philippines is already bound by military agreements with the US, Japan and Australia. It recently finished the first round of negotiations for a possible visiting forces agreement with Paris, the Philippine defense chief said.

Meanwhile, the AFP said it will undergo “organizational enhancements” to accommodate the Japan-led “one-theater” approach in the East and South China Seas.

“Part of this will be looking at a broader expanse of the maritime, air and land domains. This will allow us to simplify the allocation of forces, streamline the organization and simplify the chain of command,” Mr. Trinidad said.

Military leaders are working to enforce a “one-theater” concept in the East and South China Seas, where China has asserted its presence in, moving forward with Japan’s proposal to treat the regions with a single military approach.