Chinese ships near Philippines during Baliktan exercises

On Thursday, April 24, 2025, the Philippine Navy reported monitoring an unusual presence of a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Shandong-class aircraft carrier along with six escort ships and two support vessels near Batanes province.

The Philippines also tracked another PLAN Type 815 spy ship sailing approximately 33 nautical miles northwest of Dalupiri Island, while on Saturday morning, April 26, a Chinese Navy Jiangkai II class frigate approached the BRP Apolinario Mabini during Balikatan 2025 exercises.

The Shandong carrier battle group was last seen moving towards the outer boundaries of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone around 180 nautical miles east of Cagayan on Wednesday evening, while two more Chinese ships arrived later, positioning themselves near allied vessels without disrupting ongoing maritime drills.

Key activities for the Multilateral Maritime Exercise (MME) include communications exercises, cross-deck landing qualifications, division tactics, photo exercises, replenishment at sea, maritime search and rescue, and gunnery drills involving the United States' USS Savannah and USS Comstock and the Philippines' BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Apolinario Mabini.

These events occurred amidst ongoing Manila-Washington joint military exercises (Balikatan 2025) and rising tensions over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Philippine Navy remains vigilant to maintain maritime situational awareness and uphold international maritime norms.