This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact The Epoch Times Reprints.
A Chinese Coast Guard vessel chased a Philippine ship near Scarborough in the South China Sea on Aug. 11, 2025. Philippine Coast Guard Handout via The Associated Press/Screenshot via The Epoch Times
On Aug. 11, two Chinese warships collided while recklessly harassing a Philippine Coast Guard cutter near Scarborough Shoal, within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). One vessel was left crippled, its bow smashed and unseaworthy—an embarrassment for Beijing, made worse when the Philippine side offered aid.
Yet beyond the poetic justice of this episode lies a graver reality: Communist China’s escalating maritime aggression calls for more than toothless protests and ignored complaints to international bodies. It demands a unified regional response—something far more decisive than what we’ve seen so far.
With U.S. interests in play, President Donald Trump has an opportunity to be part of the solution by linking Chinese access to the U.S. market to respect for maritime law and national sovereignty.
This latest confrontation involved the 2,600-ton Philippine cutter Suluan, which was delivering supplies to fishermen when it was pursued by China’s 2,000-ton Coast Guard cutter CCG 3104 and the 7,500-ton Type 052D destroyer Guilin. The two Chinese vessels collided in the process.
The incident occurred just 75 nautical miles from Palawan, well within the Philippines’ EEZ, and more than 630 nautical miles from China’s Hainan Island—a fact reaffirmed by the 2016 Hague ruling under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.
Video evidence shows CCG 3104 using water cannons before a reckless maneuver caused the collision. While this does not mean that all of China’s Navy is incompetent, it certainly was embarrassing. Most importantly, this incident put the Chinese regime’s violation of international law front and center and offers Trump a chance to tie China’s ability to access U.S. markets to China being less reckless.
For reference, the basis for Beijing’s claims to what amounts to almost the whole South China Sea is China’s “nine-dash line” construct, which is a vague, U-shaped claim that covers more than 90 percent of the South China Sea, encroaching on the EEZs of Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
Created in 1947, the nine-dash line lacks a legal basis, as ruled by the Hague court in 2016, which affirmed coastal states’ 200-nautical-mile EEZ rights under UNCLOS and found China’s interference with Philippine fishing vessels to be illegal. The Chinese regime is also involved with aggressively and sometimes recklessly asserting territorial claims in the East China Sea that are considered illegal by Japan and the United States.
China’s use of water cannons constitutes the use of deadly force that could be construed as acts of war, as they continue to damage other countries’ commercial and military vessels, including injuring sailors. For example, a person getting hit full on by one of these high-pressure cannons could end up having his head slammed into something on his ship or being knocked overboard.
The attack on the Suluan, which ended in embarrassment, is just the latest in a long list of incidents.
On March 5, China Coast Guard cutters blasted water cannons and rammed the BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) at Second Thomas Shoal, injuring four crew members and damaging vessels involved in a supply mission for the Philippines’ Thomas Shoal outpost. The Chinese regime continues to harass and bully the Philippines.
Vietnam in 2019 faced provocations by Chinese warships at Vanguard Bank, which is part of its EEZ 200 nautical miles from its coast.
In November 2023, a Chinese warship directed high-power sonar pulses at Australian divers working to free fishing nets from the propellers of their Navy frigate, the HMAS Toowoomba, forcing them to exit the water to avoid injury. The reported incident occurred within Japan’s EEZ while the Toowoomba was conducting operations in support of U.N. sanctions enforcement.
According to the Diving Medical Advisory Committee, a London-based body, high levels of underwater sound can cause “dizziness, hearing damage or other injuries” to divers.
Another provocation occurred on Feb. 11, when a Chinese military jet released flares close to an RAAF P-8 Poseidon in international airspace in a manner deemed “unsafe and unprofessional” by the Australian government.
Other countries harassed by the Chinese regime include Brunei, Indonesia, and, of course, Taiwan. Utterly ignoring international law, China continues to build small artificial islands from which it illegally claims new territorial waters. The former commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, said: “I’m very, very concerned about the direction it’s going. These actions are dangerous, illegal, and they are destabilizing the region.”
Despite escalating concerns such as those expressed by Aquilino and other U.S. lawmakers, as well as the condemnation issued by U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson of the Aug. 11 attack on a Philippine warship, the responses have been largely symbolic, and Beijing has continued to justify its violation of international law.
Beijing’s actions warrant some kind of concrete response, and its ongoing trade negotiations with Washington could be an opportune time to link China’s future ability to access U.S. markets to its actions in the South China Sea. Fortuitously, the timing of the most recent incident aligns with Trump’s efforts to renegotiate the U.S.–China trade relationship from one that harms the U.S. economy and national security, as has been the case for some 30 years, to one that benefits the United States.
Incorporating trade provisions that reward China for respecting freedom of navigation and other countries’ EEZs would be a better approach than relying on a severely depleted U.S. Navy to attempt to deter Chinese aggression while operating right in the heart of Chinese power in the South China Sea, where it has a tremendous advantage over the U.S. Navy because its Navy, Air Force, and land forces have thousands of anti-ship missiles.
The United States cannot and should not be expected to deter China alone. Yes, as a great power, the United States has an interest in maintaining freedom of navigation. However, the United States has no EEZs in either the South or East China seas. Consequently, U.S. involvement in deterring China should be as part of a coalition.
More specifically, nations whose EEZs are being violated by the Chinese regime cannot rely solely on the United States and American taxpayers to defend their interests; they must also take proactive measures, including implementing trade sanctions and significantly increasing their investments in naval and defense capabilities. Only through these kinds of actions, as executed by a unified coalition, will China be effectively deterred.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Mike Fredenburg writes on military technology and defense matters with an emphasis on defense reform. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in production operations management.
