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China’s state media has released footage showing the People’s Liberation Army Navy challenging a U.S. warship near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
On August 13, the USS Higgins conducted what is termed a “freedom-of-navigation operation” (FONOP) near Scarborough Shoal, a contentious area in China’s dispute with the Philippines, an ally of the United States. Beijing claimed its forces “expelled” the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer—a claim dismissed by the U.S. Seventh Fleet as false.
**Why It Matters**
Since 1979, the U.S. Navy has regularly challenged what it deems excessive maritime claims. Scarborough Shoal is about 140 miles west of Luzon Island and roughly 700 miles from China’s Hainan Island. Beijing asserts sovereignty over the shoal, as it does most of the South China Sea.
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**What to Know**
Media Unlocked, a social media brand run by the state-run China Daily, released footage showing an encounter between the USS Higgins and a Chinese ship, which identified itself as the Type 054A frigate Liuzhou (573). The Chinese ship radioed that the USS Higgins had “illegally entered” territorial waters of Huangyan Island (China’s name for Scarborough Shoal) and ordered it to change course and leave. After about 90 minutes, the PLA Navy drove out the USS Higgins.
Media Unlocked wrote on X: “Same old U.S. playbook: provoke, then retreat.”
**Image:** The USS Higgins, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, in the Pacific Ocean on November 7, 2024 (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lucas J. Hastings/U.S. Navy).
The encounter occurred two days after a Chinese navy destroyer and coast guard ship collided while attempting to drive away a smaller Philippine coast guard cutter near Scarborough Shoal. The bow of the Chinese coast guard vessel was severely damaged.
**What People Are Saying**
Commander Matthew Comer, spokesperson for the Indo-Pacific Command, told Newsweek: “China’s statement about this mission is false. USS Higgins (DDG 76) conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations.”
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., previously stated that China firmly opposes “willful trespassing” and “any country conducting unlawful provocations in the name of ‘freedom of navigation’ to harm the sovereignty and security of coastal countries and undermine regional peace and stability.”
**What’s Next**
China is expected to continue patrols and other activities within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed not to yield “one square inch” of Manila-claimed waters.
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