Chinese naval vessels near Batanes, Dalupiri amid US-Philippine drills

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, within three nautical miles southwest of Babuyan Islands.

The Philippines also tracked another PLAN Type 815 spy ship sailing approximately 33 nautical miles northwest of Dalupiri Island in the same region. These sightings did not affect ongoing Philippine-US maritime drills as part of Balikatan 2025 exercises, according to Commander Johanns Cruzada.

Philippine naval forces dispatched undisclosed assets to monitor these ships, challenging them through radio communication but received no response from Chinese vessels. 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.

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.