Chinese warship locks firing radar on Philippine patrol vessel in South China Sea
Agence France-Presse
A China People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship directed its fire control radar toward a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea in March 2026, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said, calling the behavior “alarming and provocative.”
The radar provides precise targeting coordinates to a ship’s weapons systems.
Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling — in a case brought by the Philippines — that China’s sovereignty assertion has no legal basis.
The early March incident occurred near the flashpoint Sabina Shoal, a fish-rich area about 150 kilometers from the Philippine island of Palawan. The guided-missile frigate BRP Miguel Malvar was patrolling when “a PLA Navy vessel … approached and later directed its fire control radar toward the Philippine Navy ship,” Manila stated. “This was an alarming and provocative action that created unnecessary risk and could have led to misinterpretation and misunderstanding at sea. While the situation did not further escalate, the incident underscores the need for all states to act with restraint and professionalism at sea.”
It is the latest in a yearslong string of encounters in which China’s vessels have used force or intimidation against Philippine fishing and government vessels in the West Philippine Sea, the portion of the South China Sea within Manila’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.
Three Philippine fishermen were wounded and two fishing vessels significantly damaged when China Coast Guard ships fired high-pressure water cannons and blocked almost two dozen fishing boats near Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea in December 2025.
Two months earlier, Manila accused one of China’s ships of firing a water cannon at and ramming a Philippine government vessel in the sea’s Spratly Islands.
