China Launches Military Patrols in South China Sea in Response to US Philippines Drills.

According to information released by the Chinese military on May 31, 2025, the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has launched a new phase of combat readiness patrols around Huangyan Dao, located in a maritime area claimed by multiple coastal states. These operations, conducted by both naval and air units since early May, are part of a sustained presence strategy aimed at reinforcing China’s control over a key geostrategic zone in the South China Sea.
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An aerial drone image taken on July 11, 2024, shows China Coast Guard vessels Hebao and Wanshan conducting a fuel refueling drill near Huangyan Dao (Picture source: China Military)

Beijing states that the purpose of these patrols is to "firmly safeguard national sovereignty and security" and to "maintain regional stability." However, these declarations accompany a unilateral hardening of its military posture in waters that are widely contested.

Huangyan Dao, also known internationally as Scarborough Shoal, lies approximately 220 kilometers west of the Philippine Island of Luzon. Although effectively controlled by China since 2012, the reef is claimed by the Philippines and lies within its exclusive economic zone under international maritime law, notably the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China had no legal historical rights over the area, a decision categorically rejected by Beijing. Consequently, the current PLA patrols represent a direct challenge to established international legal rulings and further escalate diplomatic tensions with Manila, Washington, and allied partners.

The explicit military support of the United States to the Philippines, under their bilateral mutual defense treaty, gives each Chinese maneuver in the region a potentially confrontational dimension. China’s latest military deployment comes shortly after large-scale joint exercises between the U.S. and the Philippines, including a simulation involving the retaking of occupied islands. The temporal and geographic proximity of these developments raises the risk of unintended confrontation in a zone already dense with surveillance operations and strategic maneuvers.

Simultaneously, the China Coast Guard has been carrying out assertive enforcement actions, including radio warnings, targeted monitoring, and the expulsion of foreign vessels. This reflects a growing militarization of a maritime space that several ASEAN countries had previously considered a potential area for cooperation. China's actions exemplify the use of a so-called "grey zone" strategy, which combines civilian, paramilitary, and military pressure to establish de facto territorial control without initiating open conflict. This approach steadily undermines the regional status quo and challenges the principles of freedom of navigation upheld by Western powers.

Far from being limited to routine territorial security operations, the Chinese military patrols around Huangyan Dao signal a deliberate effort to exert political and military pressure on neighboring states and to reshape the strategic balance in the South China Sea. By opposing international legal decisions and enhancing its power projection in contested areas, Beijing is establishing an asymmetrical power dynamic and increasing the risk of confrontation in one of the Indo-Pacific’s most volatile regions. For military analysts and defense stakeholders, this development represents a critical shift toward a maritime order increasingly defined by power assertion rather than legal frameworks.