3 armed China Coast Guard ships seen ‘bracketing’ Batanes

PHOTO FROM SEALIGHT

[Updated Aug. 8, 2025, 3:07 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — Batanes is now “bracketed” by three China Coast Guard (CCG) ships patrolling the eastern and western sides of the island province as of Friday.

SeaLight director Ray Powell told the Inquirer that CCG ship 4304 was about 60 nautical miles (NM) west of Batanes, while CCG ships 3301 and 3304 were last seen approximately 70 NM off the island’s eastern side.

In his post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday night, Powell said the three ships’ positions formed a bracketing pattern, with vessels placed on either side of something.

When asked on Friday if the CCG vessels were still in a bracketing pattern, Powell said, “Yes, bracketing in the sense that they are patrolling both east and west sides of Batanes.”

“I think this is really significant, as I’ve never seen CCG conduct an intrusive patrol [on] the east side of the Philippine archipelago before,” said Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.

Since Thursday, the CCG ships have been monitored passing through the Bashi Channel in what Powell described as a “very unusual” track.

“I almost never see the CCG near Batanes, and this is the first time I’ve seen any pass through the Bashi Channel in my years of monitoring,” Powell, who has tracked Chinese ships in the South China Sea and nearby waters for many years, said on Thursday.

‘New level of aggression’

CCG 4304 and 3304 are 112-meter Zhouyu class patrol ships armed with a 76 millimeter (mm) main gun. The third ship, CCG 3301, is a 98-meter Shucha II-class vessel carrying a 37mm main gun. Powell deemed the CCG activity involving the three ships as “a new level of aggression.”

“This is the first time I’ve observed this behavior from the China Coast Guard. While the CCG has been much more active in the West Philippine Sea, this marks the first time I’ve seen it extend its intrusive patrols east of the Philippines,” Powell said.

READ: 3 CCG ships pass near Batanes in ‘very unusual’ pattern – WPS tracker

The Bashi Channel, a strategic waterway between Batanes’ Mavulis Island and Taiwan’s Orchid Island, connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

In previous months, the local navy and coast guard have monitored Chinese research ships—not necessarily CCG vessels—off the eastern part of the country’s high seas, particularly the Philippine Rise.

Huge number of Chinese ships

Meanwhile, Powell said a “huge” number of Chinese ships are present in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including the three CCG vessels off Batanes.

“It’s not clear what has prompted Beijing to ratchet up its maritime aggression against Manila at this time,” Powell pointed out.

As of Friday, there are 17 CCG ships and 31 Chinese maritime militia vessels present in the country’s EEZ, mostly in the West Philippine Sea. Such presence is in line with Beijing’s sovereignty claim in almost the entire South China Sea — including most of the West Philippine Sea — but a landmark 2016 arbitral award effectively invalidated this in favor of Manila’s sovereign rights.

However, Powell could only account for Chinese ships that turned their AIS, or automatic identification system, on.

Warships, however, are generally not required by international law to turn on their AIS and could “run dark.”

“That’s just the ones broadcasting—there are almost certainly more,” Powell said of the AIS-visible Chinese ships. /jpv/abc /mr