With Emong’s exit, Chinese ships back at Panatag

MANILA, Philippines — China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels navigating the West Philippine Sea have returned to Panatag or Scarborough Shoal as cyclone Emong (international name Co-may) leaves the Philippines, an American maritime security expert said.

“As Typhoon Co-may moves back toward the northeast, the four China Coast Guard that left yesterday have moved back in to resume their exclusion zone enforcement activities around Scarborough Shoal,” former US Air Force official and former defense attaché Ray Powell posted on X yesterday.

He noted the CCG ships were “waiting out Typhoon Co-may 110 nautical miles to the west of the shoal.”

Emong, which formed in the northern part of the West Philippine Sea and took a U-turn going to Northern Luzon, was last spotted off the coast of Calayan Island in Cagayan province, based on the 2 p.m. tropical cyclone update by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration yesterday.

Powell previously wrote that the CCG were seemingly driven away by Emong, “temporarily abandoning its Scarborough Shoal exclusion zone enforcement and its intrusive patrol off the Philippines’ coastline.”

Using technology that detects presence of ships navigating maritime “gray zones,” he reported the CCG vessels were seen guarding Scarborough Shoal from July 21 to 23, 2025.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesman on West Philippine Sea issues Commodore Jay Tarriela has yet to confirm Powell’s observations.

According to previous reports, Chinese forces have been blocking a lagoon near the Panatag Shoal, within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, which is reportedly abundant in fish and other marine resources.