China ships increase in West Philippine Sea in 2026

January 14, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Just two weeks into 2026, the number of Chinese coast guard and naval vessels in the West Philippine Sea has increased, with some of them on several occasions even sailing dangerously close to ships of foreign nations engaged in drills or joint sail with Philippine ships.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) revealed this yesterday, noting that in the first week of the year, two Chinese military ships, three coast guard boats and three maritime militia vessels (MMVs) were monitored near Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc.

Meanwhile around Ayungin Shoal, Philippine Navy spokesman for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad noted the presence of six China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels and eight MMVs during the period. No vessel from the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) was spotted in the area.

For Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, Trinidad said three PLAN ships were monitored along with six coast guard boats and four MMVs while in the Pagasa Island area, no Chinese military ships were seen although there were four CCG boats and two MMVs monitored.

“Overall, for these four features, we have a total of 41 different ships and boats from the PLA Navy, the Chinese Coast Guard and the maritime militia,” Trinidad said.

While there are no comparative data yet from last month, Trinidad said November and December witnessed a surge in Chinese presence “all over the maritime features of the Philippines.”

“And their actions have been more aggressive now. They are closer to the ships participating in the different MMCAs (Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activities) that we have conducted with like-minded nations,” he said.

“From being merely distant from the participants of MMCAs, they are now an active enabler. So, we foresee that for 2026, this would be the likely trend, increased presence in our maritime features of PLA Navy, the Coast Guard and the maritime militia,” he explained.

Trinidad, however, emphasized that while the trend is not alarming or threatening, it shows China’s brazenness in intruding into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

He reiterated the Philippine Navy’s commitment to escalating its operations and working in close coordination with the PCG and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in patrolling and securing the country’s maritime domain.

“Our patrol plans are in place. We have escalated them compared to 2024, 2025. So (it’s) an increase in our maritime domain awareness flights and patrols by sea,” he said. — Christine Boton