A U.S.-Philippine patrol near Scarborough Shoal this week amid Manila’s concerns of potential structures placed by Beijing at the South China Sea hotspot.
The exercise from May 26 to 30 was the first time a U.S. Coast Guard vessel joined Philippine forces for a maritime cooperative activity. Also known as a joint patrol, the naval drills are designed to showcase the U.S.-Philippine alliance’s resolve in waters disputed by China. Washington and Manila committed to these drills in 2023, following a year of increasingly escalatory incidents from China at contested maritime features.
Cutter USS Midgett (WMSL-757) joined the Philippine Navy frigate BRP Antonio Luna (FFG-14) and Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV-9702) for the maritime cooperative activity. The drills focused on law enforcement training, including maritime interdiction of vessels and boarding operations.
According to maritime tracking data posted by the SeaLight Foundation, the American and Philippine vessels held activities around 35-40 nautical miles from the Chinese-occupied maritime feature.
“This direct involvement by the USCG in a Philippine challenge to China’s maritime aggression inside the West Philippine Sea is a significant step forward for the alliance,” read a social media statement from SeaLight.
Scarborough Shoal, known to the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc and by China as Huangyan Island, is the South China Sea maritime feature that began a chain of tensions between the two countries following an incident in 2012. The reef is 120 nautical miles from Luzon and around 350-400 nautical miles from Hainan. Since the initial standoff, Chinese forces have occupied Scarborough with a persistent force of paramilitary vessels, cutters and warships.
Following the U.S.-Philippine maritime patrol, the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command and China Coast Guard claimed that their forces held exercises around Scarborough to counter “rights-violation and provocative acts.” The Philippine military dismissed the drills.
Last fall, China established a “national nature reserve” at the shoal. Sparking memories of previous Chinese civilian developments that led to full-scale military build-ups at previously disputed maritime features, Manila raised the alarm. In the ensuing months, Washington kept a U.S. carrier strike group on station in the South China Sea until the Iran War.
At the 2026 Shangri-la Dialogue, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gibo Teodoro told reporters that he was investigating preliminary reports of potential structures being placed at Scarborough. Teodoro cited the data as “raw” and that the Armed Forces of the Philippines were actively monitoring the shoal.