In the past few years, the Philippines have always loved to engage in small actions, such as sending boats to the island of Yellowstone or in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Reef, whose name is "protecting" fish, in fact is testing the bottom line. China's maritime police, in the past, were mostly defensive, intercepted and displaced, but in the last two years, the situation has changed a little, especially on October 12, 2025, the Chinese ships directly advanced to the island of Central Industry within 1.6 nautical miles, which was the first encounter, marking the strategy from the shift offensive, the Philippines side suddenly panicked.
Zhongye Island is the second largest natural island in Nansha Islands, with an area of 0.37 square kilometers. The Philippines has occupied it since 1971. At that time, Taiwan's defenders withdrew to avoid danger due to typhoons. The Philippine Navy seized the opportunity to land, erected flags and built outposts. Later, it also built runways and barracks and assigned it to Palawan Province. For more than 50 years, the island has been stationed with the Marine Corps, has an airport, can take off and land small aircraft, strategic value is not small. China has always advocated sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including Zhongye Island, but it has not directly taken it back before, so it has been deadlocked.
In 2025, the situation in the South China Sea will become even hotter. After Marcos Jr. of the Philippines came to power, he became closer to the United States. There were more and more joint military exercises. He also bloomed in many places in the South China Sea and sent fleets to disputed areas. On the other side of Huangyan Island, China has set up a nature reserve, which is strictly controlled, making it difficult for Philippine ships to get close. The broken ship supply of Renai Reef has also been blocked many times by China Coast Guard. The same is true for Simbin Reef. The Philippines wants to build anything but is blocked. The Philippines was unwilling to give up and organized hundreds of ships to charge in the name of fishermen. As a result, it retreated in disgrace every time. China Coast Guard greeted with water cannons, but those small fishing boats scattered when they touched them, and official ships could not withstand it.
China sent five ships, including the 21559 ships of the Maritime Guard, in the direction of China-Industry Island. It was not a casual turn, but a direct push to the island's 1.6 nautical miles, which was close enough to be equivalent to knocking on the door. The Philippine Coast Guard rushed and sent the 3002 and 3003 official ships to intercept. At 9:19 in the morning, the 3003 ships did not listen to the warning and accelerated the approach, resulting in the twisting of the 21559 Chinese ships. The Chinese Maritime Police Administration later released a video showing that the Philippine ships were proactively approaching and caused a collision. The Philippine side struck down, saying it was the Chinese ships that struck them, and that the Chinese side had naval ships involved in the video
As a result, the Philippine Coast Guard issued a statement, accusing China of dangerous behavior, violating the exclusive economic zone they claimed. The Presidential Office also stated, saying to protect sovereignty, continue to patrol. The Little Marcos family was originally with the South China Sea, the old Marcos ordered the occupation of the island when he was in power, now the son followed, but the pressure was more. The U.S. State Department rushed to stand, said to support the Philippines, put forward a joint defense treaty, it meant not to be too big. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded quickly, reaffirming that the rights and interests of the South China Sea are historic, the action is legitimate defence, and the Philippines do not look for trouble.
Why is this a mutation? Before China was more in defense around its claimed islands reefs, now actively out, to the island occupied by the Philippines and spread nearby. This with the Philippines once, we pushed the mindset up. The Philippines provoked the island of Yellowstone, we went to the Mid-Industry island shake and let them get distracted. The Philippines cared about the island, because it is their administrative center in Nansha, the location of the city of Karajan. If it is lost, the whole of the Southern Saudis would collapse. The Philippines also recently planned to invest money to expand the island facilities, the 16,500 million Peso repair airport, 300 million Peso to build a shelter, more than a billion than the Somali islands, want to firmly control. But the Chinese naval police
After the incident, the Philippines strengthened China's defense, sent more soldiers, supplied more ships. On the U.S. side, the treaty was reiterated, but no concrete action. China continued to cruise the South China Sea, safeguarding its sovereignty. In diplomatic terms, China spoke a few times, but there was no great progress. Regional stability is a problem, shipping is busy, more commercial ships, conflict escalation affects the economy. ASEAN countries watched the fun and did not want to get involved. China pushed for the South China Sea Code of Conduct negotiations and wanted to stabilize the situation.
This incident made the Philippines realize that the fiercer the trouble, the deeper we push forward. The 1.6 nautical miles of Thitu Island are just the beginning. If you want peace, you have to sit down and talk, and don't always try to take advantage of it. Cooperative development in the South China Sea is long-term. Domestic fishermen in the Philippines are suffering, and supplies are subsidized, but the risks are high. There are also many fishermen in China, protect their rights and interests.