Possible Indication Of Evolving China Coast Guard Approach To Standoffs With The Philippines
🇨🇳 🇵🇠Minimal Comment
Minimal comment-themed posts are used to introduce data points for use in other posts going forward. Posts of this theme will typically feature minimal analysis and commentary.
In August 2025, a gray-hulled People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) destroyer inadvertently rammed a much smaller white-hulled China Coast Guard (CCG) patrol vessel while the two Chinese hulls aggressively moved to ram a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel. Since that incident, which I covered in a separate post, China and the CCG appear to have adjusted their approach to such everyday standoffs with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
The latest incident involved CCG vessels and Philippine vessels from both the PCG and the Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
The above videos, which amount to purposeful and undoubtedly selectively curated disclosures from the PCG, notably document the presence of the fairly small CCG patrol vessel 21559 operating far out in the South China Sea. China and the CCG have, over the past decade or so, pursued ever larger patrol vessels that can be used to intimidate, outmuscle, and even ram the much smaller Philippine vessels that are typically present at such incidents. The August 2025 incident in which a PLAN destroyer inadvertently rammed a CCG vessel was unusual in terms of the PLAN’s involvement, not least given how the CCG operates comparably large patrol ships. The latest incident may indicate yet another turn in how China and the CCG are approaching such everyday standoffs in the South China. While CCG patrol vessel 21559 is fairly small, it is worth noting that an image released by the PCG reveals the presence of a much larger white-hulled CCG patrol ship in the background. It also bears emphasis that one or more PLAN vessels were likely not far away from the incident and could have intervened if required.
