3 armed China Coast Guard ships have left Batanes waters – monitor

Philippine Coast Guard aircraft spots China Coast Guard ship with hull number 4304 off Sabtang island in Batanes on August 8, 2025. (PHOTO FROM THE PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD)

[Updated Aug. 11, 2025, 6:00 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — The three armed China Coast Guard (CCG) ships left the waters near Batanes over the weekend, a maritime expert said on Monday.

SeaLight director Ray Powell told Inquirer.net that CCG ships with hull numbers 4304, 3301, and 3304 left the waters near the island province on Saturday.

Powell said these three CCG ships “have redeployed back to China.”

“There are no more left around Batanes now,” Powell, program head of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, also said in a message on X (formerly Twitter).

The CCG’s 4304 and 3304 are 112-meter Zhouyu class patrol ships armed with a 76-millimeter (mm) main gun, while CCG 3301 is a 98-meter Shucha II-class vessel carrying a 37 mm main gun, according to Powell.

Powell said the three ships, which were first spotted off Batanes on Aug. 7, had formed a bracketing pattern with vessels being placed on the eastern and western sides of the island province.

On Aug. 8, the Philippine Coast Guard deployed its Islander aircraft to conduct a radio challenge against CCG-4304, but it did not respond, according to its West Philippine Sea affairs spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela.

Tarriela, however, said the PCG aircraft did not reach two other CCG vessels, 3304 and 3301, due to adverse weather and its distance from CCG-3304.

On Monday, the Northern Luzon Naval Command (NLNC) said BRP Emilio Jacinto issued a radio challenge against CCG vessels 3304 and 3301.

“Following continuous monitoring and the assertive presence of both BRP Jose Rizal (FF150) and BRP Emilio Jacinto (PS35), the said Chinese vessels were observed to have altered their courses,” the NLNC said in a statement.

CCG-4304 was spotted on the western part of Batanes, while CCG vessels 3304 and 3301 were on the eastern section of the island province, according to Powell.

Powell, who has been tracking Chinese vessels in the South China Sea and nearby high seas, noted that he “almost never” sees CCG vessels off Batanes before. /gsg /mr