PLA Navy followed US vessel on patrol in South China Sea hotspot, Beijing says

The USS Charleston, a US littoral combat ship, entered waters near Sabina Shoal early Tuesday, according to China. Beijing said the ship had entered without approval and undermined regional stability. The incident matters because China, the Philippines, and the United States are operating around a heavily disputed area where recent confrontations have already involved coastguard vessels, collisions, and water cannons.

Yin Gang, a spokesman for China’s Southern Theatre Command Navy, said Chinese naval forces monitored and followed the Charleston. China claimed “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands and demanded that Washington stop such activities. Vincent Trinidad, speaking for the Philippine military, rejected the accusation that the ship trespassed into Chinese territory.

The Philippines said no country can require prior permission for lawful transit through international waters. The US Seventh Fleet did not immediately comment. The encounter came after a China-Philippines collision near Sabina Shoal last month and before a planned US presidential visit to Manila for an Asean meeting.

Sabina Shoal is a maritime feature in the Spratly Islands, a group of disputed features in the South China Sea. Its importance comes from competing claims over territory and surrounding waters. China says it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratlys, while the Philippines treats the area as part of its maritime interests. The shoal’s ownership and the rights around it remain contested.

The dispute became especially tense in 2024. The Philippines stationed a coastguard vessel near Sabina Shoal for five months because of concerns about possible Chinese land reclamation. That vessel withdrew in September 2024 after confrontations, including collisions between Chinese and Philippine coastguard ships. The names Xianbin Jiao and Escoda Shoal show how each side identifies the same feature.

Sabina Shoal remains a flashpoint. The Charleston encounter followed another China-Philippines collision there last month. Continued ship activity can produce new confrontations and make wider disagreements over reefs, shoals, and maritime rights harder to manage.

Sabina Shoal is about 145km, or 90 miles, northwest of the Philippine island of Palawan. That makes it geographically close to the Philippines, even though China also claims the feature as part of the Spratly Islands. Location matters because nearby waters can affect coastguard patrols, naval deployments, fishing, maritime access, and competing claims over surrounding resources.

The shoal’s position has helped make it a major flashpoint since 2024. The Philippines stationed a coastguard vessel there for five months amid concerns about possible Chinese land reclamation. The vessel later withdrew after repeated confrontations, including collisions involving Chinese and Philippine coastguard ships. A new collision occurred near the shoal last month.

The distance does not settle sovereignty by itself. It does, however, explain why the Philippines is directly involved and why US operations nearby attract Chinese attention. The shoal’s location keeps local encounters connected to wider regional security and alliance concerns.

The United States and the Philippines distinguish between a country’s territorial sea and international waters. Under widely accepted maritime law, a coastal state has sovereignty in its territorial sea, subject to navigation rules. Beyond that zone, an exclusive economic zone gives the coastal state important resource rights, but it does not automatically let that state control every foreign ship’s movement. International waters are generally open to navigation.

Vincent Trinidad, a Philippine military spokesman, said no single nation can require prior permission for lawful transit through international waters. China takes a different position around the Spratly Islands and said the Charleston entered its waters without approval. The disagreement is therefore both about geography and about which legal rights apply in the area.

The article does not identify the exact legal status of the Charleston’s route. The US Seventh Fleet did not immediately comment. Because the competing sides interpret sovereignty and navigation differently, routine naval passages can become politically charged and closely monitored encounters.

Continued confrontations could make the South China Sea less stable and increase the chance of an accident becoming a larger crisis. The article describes recent encounters involving collisions, water cannons, coastguard ships, and naval vessels. Repeated close encounters also make it harder for the countries to separate routine patrols from deliberate challenges to sovereignty or maritime rights.

A concrete example came last month, when China and the Philippines collided near Sabina Shoal. Earlier, Chinese and Philippine coastguard ships collided during confrontations that followed the Philippines’ five-month deployment of a vessel there. The Charleston’s passage added a US warship to an already tense setting. Chinese forces monitored and followed it.

The wider consequence could be sharper military activity and stronger diplomatic demands. Washington has increased joint patrols and exercises with Manila. A February statement reaffirmed that the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty covers armed attacks on certain forces and public vessels, including coastguards, anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.

The United States is involved because Washington is a treaty ally of the Philippines. The alliance connects South China Sea incidents to broader US security commitments. Washington also challenges what it considers Beijing’s excessive territorial claims. Its involvement therefore combines support for Manila, naval operations, and a stated interest in keeping maritime routes open.

The article gives several concrete examples. The United States has stepped up joint naval patrols and military exercises with the Philippines. The USS Charleston is deployed to Southeast Asia under Destroyer Squadron 7, a Singapore-based command under the Seventh Fleet. Its passage near Sabina Shoal was disputed by China, which said the ship needed approval before entering the area.

The alliance raises the stakes of future encounters. A joint statement after the February US-Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue said the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty covers armed attacks against the countries’ armed forces, aircraft, and public vessels, including coastguards, anywhere in the Pacific. The Seventh Fleet did not immediately comment.

Territorial waters, usually called the territorial sea, extend up to 12 nautical miles from a coast or qualifying maritime feature under widely accepted maritime law. The coastal state exercises sovereignty there, though foreign ships generally retain a right of innocent passage. An exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, can extend up to 200 nautical miles and gives the coastal state resource rights, but not full sovereignty over every foreign vessel.

International waters, often called the high seas, lie beyond national maritime zones. They are generally open to navigation, so a coastal state normally cannot demand permission for every lawful passage. However, ships remain subject to international rules and their own flag state’s jurisdiction. Exact boundaries can be disputed, especially around reefs and shoals.

This framework explains the Charleston disagreement. The Philippines said no country can require permission for lawful transit through international waters. China said the ship entered its waters without approval. The article does not establish which maritime category covered the route, so it cannot settle the legal dispute.