Philippines Accuses Chinese Vessel Of Location Falsification Near Undersea Cables

The Coast Guard of the Philippines has blamed a Chinese vessel for operating in waters with undersea cables, while hiding its true location from Manila.

Jia Hai Ke 7 was sailing off the shores of Batanes and trying to conduct unauthorised seabed surveillance, according to sources.

The Philippine Coast Guard said that it monitored the vessel’s movement with the help of the Dark Vessel Detection System, in which the ship’s AIS, which broadcasts a vessel’s location and identity, showed it departing from Xiamen in China’s Fujian after midnight on September 21, 2026.

Around 8:00 p.m. the same day, the signal showed it off Papua New Guinea, over 200 nautical miles away, which is not possible. Hence, the Coast Guard confirmed that the vessel was indeed falsifying its position to conceal its activities from the Philippine Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said the manoeuvre raises serious concerns over the safety of the country’s underwater infrastructure and the potential military use of information gathered by China.

A patrol aircraft from the monitoring station in Itbayat, 160 km from Taiwan, was dispatched by Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, the Coast Guard commandant.

The Chinese vessel was found 38 nm from Itbayat, within the waters of Manila’s exclusive economic zone. According to the Philippine Coast Guard, the crew of the patrol aircraft sent radio warnings to the Chinese ship many times, asking it to stop its unauthorised activities; however, the ship’s crew did not respond to the warnings.

Such incidents between Beijing and Manila are not new, given that China claims the entire Batanes as part of its territory. In June, scholars in China put forward the theory that Batanes, which lies between northern Luzon and Taiwan, is an extension of the island of Taiwan, a claim that the Philippine government does not agree with.

This development comes days after Chinese naval and coast guard vessels interfered with a Philippine resupply operation to the Ayungin Shoal on September 24, 2026.