China effectively seized control of Scarborough Shoal’s lagoon in 2012 after its coast guard engaged Philippine vessels in a standoff. Two CCG ships have been permanently deployed inside the lagoon since then.
Although it has not built anything on the Scarborough Shoal since 2016, China imposes its sovereignty claims through fishing bans on Filipino boats.
China’s restrictions have led to a noticeable reduction – up to two-thirds – of what fishermen said they normally catch.
In September last year, Philippine forces removed a 300-metre floating barrier installed by China near the shoal, which triggered a warning from Beijing.
China last year also accused a Philippine military ship of “illegally entering” the waters near Scarborough Shoal. The Chinese coast guard said it had taken measures to drive away the Philippine Navy gunboat.
In a separate incident in December, the US condemned a high-seas assault by the Chinese coast guard together with suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from the shoal.
The assault, one of the most aggressive in 2023, caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ships, Filipino officials said.
The ships had sailed to the area to provide humanitarian aid, mainly free fuel and Christmas grocery packs, to poor Filipino fishermen aboard nearly 30 boats.
They said the swarm of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships took dangerously aggressive actions, including the use of water cannons at least eight times, as the Philippine government ships approached about 2.6km to 3.5km (1.6 to 2 miles) from Scarborough Shoal.
The tense confrontations are taking place against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Manila and Beijing, the latter of which is increasingly suspicious of the Philippines’ growing alliance with the United States.
This includes strengthening defence cooperation and more access for US forces to Filipino military bases. The Philippines is seen as an important staging post in the event of a Taiwan Strait crisis, but the South China Sea dispute is also viewed as a flashpoint in its own right.
