Allies and Partners in the Indo-Pacific and Europe condemned China after its coast guard rammed and fired a high-powered water cannon at a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea. The mid-October 2025 confrontation near Sandy Cay, a coral reef within the Spratly Islands that is part of the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ), follows a series of coercive onslaughts by China.
“We stand with our Philippine allies as they confront China’s dangerous actions which undermine regional stability,” the United States State Department said. “China’s sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea and its increasingly coercive actions to advance them at the expense of its neighbors continue to undermine regional stability and fly in the face of its prior commitments to resolve disputes peacefully.”
Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union also condemned China’s actions.
“Seriously concerned about the repeated dangerous actions by [China Coast Guard] including collision and use of water cannon … [Japan] upholds the rule of law and opposes any actions which increase tensions,” stated Kazuya Endo, Japan’s ambassador to the Philippines.
Video released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) showed a China Coast Guard ship firing its water cannon at a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel and then ramming its stern. The Philippine vessel sustained minor damage, but no personnel were injured, the PCG said. The BRP Datu Pagbuaya was one of three BFAR boats supporting fishing crews in the Philippines’ territorial waters.
“Despite these bullying tactics and aggressive actions … [we] remain resolute. We will not be intimidated or driven away, as our presence in the Kalayaan Island Group is crucial for protecting the rights and livelihoods of Filipino fishermen,” PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela said.
China illegally claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a vital international trade route, despite overlapping claims from Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and others. China has ignored a 2016 international tribunal ruling that invalidated its claims and found that the Philippines has maritime rights to the disputed area within its EEZ. Manila brought the case under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army Navy, coast guard and maritime militia continue a coercion campaign against PCG, BFAR and fishing vessels operating lawfully.
A day after the confrontation near Sandy Cay, China ships, for the first time, issued radio warnings ordering Philippine boats to stay out of what the CCP calls its “environmental reserve” at Scarborough Shoal.
The PCG said the warning came as it and the BFAR delivered food and fuel to Filipino fishing crews near Scarborough and Sabina shoals.
China was condemned internationally after it said in September 2025 that it would establish a purported national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines called it an “illegitimate and unlawful” maneuver meant to assert Beijing’s control over the area. Scarborough Shoal “is an integral part of the Philippine archipelago, and only the Philippine government holds the authority to designate environmental protection areas in these waters,” Tarriela said.
China’s reckless activities also resulted in a Chinese navy vessel colliding with a China Coast Guard ship in August 2025 while they harassed a Philippine patrol boat near Scarborough Shoal.
