South China Sea nations have not succumbed to Beijing’s increasingly persistent efforts to undermine their lawful maritime territorial claims. Despite the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threats and aggressive moves, fishing, security patrols and offshore exploration continued in 2024.
That’s the conclusion of an analysis of Global Positioning System-based ship-tracking information that detects vessel movements globally. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a United States-based think tank, reviewed automatic identification system data collected at six contested South China Sea locations as part of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI).
China arbitrarily claims most of the sea, disregarding a 2016 international tribunal ruling that invalidated Beijing’s sovereignty contention and despite overlapping claims from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Many of the CCP’s patrols occur in other nations’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
The study examined the number of days CCP ships patrolled Luconia, Sabina, Scarborough and Second Thomas shoals, Thitu Island, and an area south of Vanguard Bank.
CCP patrols in 2024 totaled 1,939 ship days, an increase from the previous year’s 1,652, the study found. Patrols increased at five of the six areas, with Second Thomas Shoal the exception. Philippine and Chinese leaders agreed to de-escalate tensions at the shoal in July 2024 after China Coast Guard ships in June intercepted Philippine vessels on a mission to resupply Sailors stationed at the shoal, which is in the Philippines’ EEZ. China Coast Guard personnel armed with knives and an axe injured Philippine Sailors and damaged their inflatable boat.
CCP activity subsequently increased at Sabina Shoal, which is also in the Spratly Islands and west of the Philippines’ Palawan island. China Coast Guard ships rammed and fired water cannons at Philippine vessels at the shoal in August 2024, CNN reported.
The CCP used its bases on artificial islands and its Coast Guard fleet to stage the South China Sea patrols, which increased in mid-2023 and surged in 2024, the Washington, D.C.-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reported in February 2025.
Beijing’s incursions and threats continue. A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) helicopter flew within 3 meters of a Philippine fisheries bureau plane over Scarborough Shoal in mid-February 2025, prompting the Philippine pilot to warn: “You are flying too close; you are very dangerous,” The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The incident occurred just days after a PLA fighter aircraft shot flares in front of a Royal Australian Air Force plane in international airspace over the South China Sea, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Australian defense officials called the incident “unsafe and unprofessional” and lodged protests with Beijing.
China Coast Guard vessels, meanwhile, have maintained a presence within the Philippines’ EEZ since January 2025, the news website Philstar.com reported in February.
The CCP’s aggressive actions and sweeping territorial claims trouble neighboring states and others who recognize the South China Sea’s international significance. More than $3 trillion of commercial shipping traverses the waterway annually, and controlling the sea’s channels and choke points is vital to the region’s security.
“They have claimed that we are infringing on their territory,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told the AP after Beijing complained about Malaysia exploring for oil and gas in September 2024. “That is not the case. We say no, it is our territory.”
