August 13, 2025

Since the incident on Monday, in which Philippine vessels illegally intruded into the waters near China's Huangyan Dao, Manila has continued to distort the facts both at home and abroad over the past few days, reversing right and wrong and smearing China for taking the so-called "dangerous maneuvers" against Philippine vessels. On Wednesday, the US destroyer Higgins illegally intruded into the territorial waters of China's Huangyan Dao - something that is hard to believe was merely a coincidence. At the same time, the Philippines and the US have played a diplomatic double act: Manila slanders China for "dangerous maneuvers and unlawful interference," while the US ambassador to the Philippines immediately follows up with condemnations of China and Western media chime in on the sidelines.

The territorial scope of the Philippines has long been determined by a series of international treaties, and China's Nanhai Zhudao lies outside Philippine territory. China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands, and there is no territorial dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. From the US colonial period through Philippine independence and up until 1997, the Philippine government never raised any objection to China's sovereign activities at Huangyan Dao. Manila's so-called "sovereignty" claim over this island is fundamentally a farce created out of nothing. Philippine vessels should not be there in the first place. By repeatedly provoking and harassing the Chinese vessels at sea and colluding with external forces to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, the Philippine side is seriously undermining regional stability and the very foundations of the international legal order.

In recent years, the Philippines has been continuously making provocations. In February 2023, the Philippines and the US signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and granted the US access to four additional military bases. Following that, the Philippines began to frequently create friction incidents in the South China Sea. In the same month, the Philippines repeatedly hyped allegations that the China Coast Guard had aimed lasers at Philippine vessels, signaling the first signs of its provocations against China. In April, the Philippines escalated its actions by dispatching a coast guard vessel to dangerously approach a Chinese Navy Type 054A frigate in the waters near Zhongye Dao. In August, the Philippines further challenged China's bottom line by insisting on sending coast guard and supply ships to illegally intrude into the waters of Ren'ai Jiao despite Chinese warnings, eventually prompting China to respond with water cannons. Afterward, the Philippines launched a series of full-scale provocations against China in multiple areas, including Ren'ai Jiao, Huangyan Dao, Xianbin Jiao, and Tiexian Jiao - either intruding into these waters or colliding with Chinese vessels - plunging the South China Sea into instability.

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