Chinese fighter jet tails PH Coast Guard aircraft over West PH Sea

A PLANAF J-15 fighter jet trailing the Philippine Coast Guard during a maritime domain awareness flight over Bajo de Masinloc on Aug. 13, 2025. Contributed photo.

[Updated Aug. 13, 2025, 8:13 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese fighter jet tailed a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) aircraft during a maritime domain awareness (MDA) flight over Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) on Wednesday, coming dangerously close to the Philippine aircraft.

The PCG’s Cessna Caravan was intercepted by a People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force (PLANAF) J-15 fighter jet above the waters off Scarborough Shoal, PCG’s spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a press briefing in Manila.

Tarriela also reported that the PCG aircraft was deployed at 7:30 a.m., and the Chinese fighter jet tailed it for about 20 minutes. It flew to its left, right, and directly overhead—at times as close as 500 feet laterally and 200 feet vertically.

“It was not fixed at maintaining such a distance. Sometimes it transferred to the left side of the aircraft, sometimes it went above, sometimes to the right side,” he said.

“The mere fact that the jet fighter was doing drastic maneuvering without following a safe path made it more dangerous,” he added.

He emphasized that this was not the first time Chinese forces had harassed PCG aircraft during MDA flights over Bajo de Masinloc, recalling previous incidents involving a PLA Navy helicopter.

However, he noted that this is the first time this year that a fighter jet has intercepted a PCG MDA flight.

Tarriela added that he did not want to speculate whether the fighter jet’s aggressive actions were a direct response to Monday’s accidental collision between two Chinese vessels in the area.

READ: 2 US warships deployed off Scarborough Shoal days after Chinese collision

China, US ships in the area

During the flight, the PCG also monitored four China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels — 5303, 4202, 3502, and 5306 — two PLA Navy ships, six Chinese maritime militia vessels, and two U.S. Navy ships near Zambales.

The PCG Caravan aircraft encountered five radio challenges from the PLAN vessel 553, while PLAN warship 568 trailed the two US Navy vessels in the area.

Earlier, China claimed it had driven away the destroyer USS Higgins from Scarborough Shoal. However, Tarriela said the US Navy was merely conducting operations in support of freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS).

At 8:20 a.m. during the flight, Tarriela said the PCG monitored US Navy ships DDG 76 Higgins and LCS 20 Cincinnati at a distance of 102 nautical miles from Zambales, roughly 30 nautical miles from Bajo de Masinloc.

“So it doesn’t mean that the reason why they were not there anymore was because they were driven away by the Chinese warship,” Tarriela said.

He also reiterated the Philippine government’s support for FONOPS.

“The Philippine government is supportive of the freedom of navigation because this is a direct challenge to the illegal nine-dash line claim of the People’s Republic of China,” he said.

Collision aftermath

The MDA flight was partly conducted to track the whereabouts of the CCG vessel damaged in the earlier collision, Tarriela said. The PCG aimed to confirm whether the ship remained in the area or had been towed elsewhere.

Tarriela confirmed that the damaged CCG vessel, CCG-3104, which collided with a PLAN vessel on Monday, was no longer in the area, along with the PLAN vessel 164 in the same incident.

He also noted that the CCG appeared to have conducted operations the day after the incident, but during Wednesday’s MDA flight, it was unclear whether they were still carrying out search and rescue.

While declining to speculate on the vessel’s destination, Tarriela revealed that PCG observations showed four CCG personnel on the ship’s bow moments before the collision, but none remained there after impact.

“This is actually the reason why we offered to help them in conducting search and rescue, and we also presumed they were badly injured,” he said, adding that the PCG even offered medical assistance.

“This is a learning experience for the People’s Republic of China. For so many years, we have been reminding them to stop dangerous maneuvers and adhere to safety regulations because there is a high chance of miscalculation,” he pointed out./mcm /mr