Overview

• The Philippine National Maritime Council reported seven China Coast Guard vessels and 13 maritime militia ships near Scarborough Shoal, compared with a single Philippine ship, BRP Teresa Magbanua.
• Council spokesman Alexander Lopez said the buildup appears aimed at reasserting control after a collision between Chinese vessels that Manila described as embarrassing for Beijing.
• Chinese state media released footage asserting the PLA Navy drove out the USS Higgins, a claim the U.S. Seventh Fleet and Indo-Pacific Command rejected as false, saying the destroyer conducted a lawful freedom-of-navigation operation.
• News reports and Philippine officials said a Chinese navy destroyer and a China Coast Guard ship collided while trying to drive away a Philippine coast guard cutter, severely damaging the coast guard vessel’s bow.
• Scarborough Shoal lies well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, and a 2016 arbitral ruling rejected China’s sweeping South China Sea claims without deciding the shoal’s sovereignty.