A US Navy guided-missile destroyer performed a Freedom of Navigation operation (FONOP) near disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Wednesday, just two days after two Chinese military vessels collided while chasing a Philippine Coast Guard ship in nearby waters.
The presence of the US ship in the area prompted China’s military to accuse the US Navy of violating it’s territorial sovereignty, but the US Navy said it had the right to be there.
“USS Higgins (DDG 76) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near Scarborough Reef, consistent with international law,” US Navy 7th Fleet spokesperson Lt. Sarah Merrill said in a statement to CNN.
China, the Philippines and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, which is about 140 miles (222 kilometers) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon and within the Philippines exclusive economic zone.
But China has effectively controlled the uninhabited shoal since 2012 by maintaining an almost constant coast guard presence in nearby waters, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
China and Taiwan each require advance notification of passage within the territorial waters of the reef, in violation of international laws guaranteeing the right of “innocent passage” by foreign warships, Merrill said. The Philippines does not impose this requirement, she added.
Merrill denied an earlier claim by China’s Southern Theater Command that it “organized its forces to track, monitor, warn and expel” the US warship as it “violated China’s territorial sovereignty.”
“China’s statement about this mission is false,” Merrill said.
“The United States is defending its right to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Higgins did here. Nothing China says otherwise will deter us,” Merrill said.
According to the Philippine Coast Guard, the USS Higgins wasn’t the only US warship in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday.
The littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati was also nearby, spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement on X.
Merrill would only confirm to CNN that the Cincinnati was operating in the South China Sea.
Wednesday’s FONOP was the first near Scarborough Shoal in more than six years, according to Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, who keeps a database of US Freedom of Navigation operations.
It was also just the second FONOP in 2025, after one in the Spratly Islands in May.
The US performed two FONOPs in the South China Sea in 2024 after executing five in 2023, according to Koh’s database.
China says such missions by the US threaten its sovereignty and peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Tensions around Scarborough Shoal, home to rich fishing grounds, have been increasing as Beijing becomes more assertive in claiming of sovereignty over much of the South China Sea and Manila pushes back, embarking independent journalists on Philippine Coast Guard missions to document what it calls Chinese aggression.
Wednesday’s US Navy operation came two days after a Chinese navy guided-missile destroyer and coast guard ship collided near the shoal while chasing a Philippine Coast Guard vessel.
The collision caused heavy damage to the bow of the China Coast Guard ship.
In a state-run Global Times report late Wednesday, Chinese experts placed the blame for Monday’s incident on the Philippines and, indirectly, its defense treaty ally, the US.
The Philippine Coast Guard vessel made repeated dangerous maneuvers in front of the Chinese Coast Guard ship, the Global Times report said, without mentioning the presence of the Chinese destroyer.
The media outlet reported that Chinese experts had said the “Philippine ship’s maneuvers severely compromised the navigational safety of the Chinese vessel, and seriously violated the most basic principles and rules of maritime navigational safety.”
The report was accompanied by a 26-second video clip, which allegedly shows reckless action by the Philippine vessel, though did not show the moment of the collision between the Chinese ships.
“The full responsibility for the resulting damages lies with the Philippine side, and all losses should be entirely borne by the Philippine vessel that provoked and caused the incident at sea,” the report said in possible reference to the collision, which China has not specifically admitted.
Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, reviewed the Global Times video for CNN and said the Chinese ship, being the overtaking ship, would be responsible for signaling its intentions to the Philippine vessel.
“There is no evidence they did so and the Philippine Coast Guard vessel is under no obligation to heave to,” or give way, Schuster said.
The Global Times article quoted Yang Xiao, an expert on maritime issues at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, who pointed the finger of blame at the US military for training its Philippine ally in gray-zone tactics, actions below the level of open warfare but employing more than diplomacy or negotiations.
Yang said the tactics violate “internationally accepted norms of maritime law enforcement” and “could lead to serious miscalculations and heightened risks of conflict at sea.”
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