Chinas coast guard holds National Day celebrations at disputed shoal claimed by Philippines

China’s coast guard on Wednesday (October 1, 2025) raised the nation’s crimson and yellow flag to rejoice its National Day within the waters close to a disputed shoal within the South China Sea, shortly after declaring the world a nature reserve.

In a video posted by state-owned media outlet Global Times on Douyin, the Chinese model of TikTok, Chinese coast guard members are seen participating in a flag-raising ceremony aboard a ship and saluting the flag.

The crew was “finishing up routine management duties … on the entrance strains in defending the seas,” Global Times reported.

China authorized the institution of a nationwide nature reserve on the disputed Scarborough Shoal in September, drawing fierce protest from the Philippines.

Experts say China’s institution of a nature reserve within the space is a territorial transfer moderately than an environmental one, designed to bolster its claims of sovereignty.

While a 2016 worldwide arbitration ruling invalidated Beijing’s expansive territorial claims on historic grounds, China has cast forward with its claims over the islets and waters of the South China Sea. In latest years, it has engaged in frequent showdowns with Philippine vessels, significantly at Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Dao.