U.S. briefly deploys two warships to a disputed South China Sea shoal after Chinese collision

The United States deployed two warships on Wednesday (August 13, 2025) in a disputed South China Sea shoal, the place two Chinese navy and coast guard ships collided two days in the past whereas attempting to drive away a smaller Philippine ship in a high-seas accident captured on video, alarming a number of Western and Asian international locations.

Both China and the Philippines declare Scarborough Shoal and different outcroppings within the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan additionally lay overlapping claims within the contested waters.

The USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, and USS Cincinnati, a littoral fight ship, have been shadowed by a Chinese navy ship whereas crusing about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) from the Scarborough Shoal. There have been no studies of any untoward incident, Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela mentioned, citing data from U.S. officers and a Philippine surveillance flight.

The U.S. Navy has staged what it calls freedom of navigation and overflight within the South China Sea for years to problem China’s restrictions and demand for entry notifications in just about all the stretch of the disputed waters that it claims. That has angered China and its forces have had shut runs-in with U.S. warships and plane on such patrols in worldwide waters and airspace.

The deployment occurred after Washington’s ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, condemned on Tuesday “the most recent reckless motion by China directed in opposition to a Philippine vessel” in Scarborough. The wealthy fishing atoll off the northwestern Philippines has been the scene of more and more tense confrontations between the Chinese and Philippine coast guard, fishing and different ships in recent times.

The Philippines is the oldest treaty ally of the U.S. in Asia. Washington has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces come beneath an armed assault, together with within the South China Sea.

On Monday, a Chinese navy destroyer and a Chinese coast guard ship unintentionally collided whereas attempting to dam and drive away a smaller Philippine coast guard ship, the BRP Suluan, about 10.5 nautical miles (19 kilometers) from Scarborough. Video footages made public by the Philippine coast guard present the Chinese coast guard ship blasting its highly effective water cannon and quite a lot of Chinese personnel standing on the bow shortly earlier than that part was hit by the fast-turning Chinese navy ship.

Shortly after the collision, the video exhibits the closely shattered bow of the Chinese coast guard ship with out the Chinese personnel, who have been standing on deck earlier than the crash. The Chinese navy ship sustained deep dents and what gave the impression to be linear gushes on its hull.

Japan, Australia and New Zealand expressed alarm on Wednesday over the harmful maneuvers that led to the collision within the busy waters, a key world commerce route.

“Japan upholds the rule of regulation and opposes any actions which improve tensions. Our concern goes to the repeated actions within the South China Sea,” Japanese Ambassador to Manila Endo Kazuya mentioned in a publish on X.

The Australian Embassy in Manila expressed concern “by the harmful and unprofessional conduct of Chinese vessels close to Scarborough Shoal involving the Philippine Coast Guard,” saying in an announcement the incident “highlights the necessity for de-escalation, restraint and respect for worldwide regulation.”

“This is a studying expertise for the People’s Republic of China,” Tarriela, the Philippine coast guard commodore, informed a information convention in Manila. “For so a few years, now we have been reminding them to cease harmful maneuvers, to cease dangerous blockings, to stick to the (anti-)collision laws as a result of if there’s a very excessive probability of miscalculation, this type of collision incident would occur.”

Tarriela spoke a couple of hours after a Chinese fighter jet flew as shut as 500 ft (152 meters) to attempt to drive away a Philippine coast guard aircraft on a surveillance flight on Wednesday over the Scarborough with invited journalists on board. The Chinese jet carried out harmful maneuvers for about 20 minutes, together with flying about 200 ft (61 meters) above the small Philippine plane, Tarriela mentioned.