Aaron-Matthew Lariosa – October 26, 2026 10:45 AM
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard’s new patrol vessel from Taiwan shadowed the Chinese Navy’s Liaoning Carrier Strike Group on Friday off Mindanao.
BRP Sarangani (6177) shadowed the 60,000-ton Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning (16) and its guided-missile destroyer escorts Anshan (101), Wuxi (104) and Huainan (123) in the Basilan Strait, local media outlet Bilyonaryo News Channel reported Saturday. Philippine Navy frigate BRP Diego Silang (FFG-7) and patrol vessel BRP Emilio Jacinto (PS-35) also observed the Liaoning CSG, according to the report.
The escort is the first publicized tasking for the ex-Taiwan Coast Guard Administration vessel Kinmen (123) – now Sarangani – in Philippine service. Transferred through the We Protect our Seas Foundation last month, Manila’s maritime security agency took possession of the vessel under the condition that it would not be used near or against Taiwan. During the vessel’s commissioning on Oct. 2, the PCG said that Sarangani would be stationed in Mindanao.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy strike group officially began training activities across the Western Pacific earlier this month in the East China Sea. Since Oct. 14, the Liaoning CSG has sailed around the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, into the Philippine Sea, through the Luzon Strait and into the South China Sea. Within the last two weeks, the Liaoning CSG’s voyage has seen three First Island Chain transits.
In recent years, the PLAN has increasingly used Philippine archipelagic waters in the Sulu Sea and Southern Mindanao to transit the First Island Chain. Chinese aircraft carriers and spy ships have used the route to access the Philippine Sea for training activities and operations around Australia.
While the region hosts the bulk of the Armed Forces of the Philippines active forces, Manila’s posture in Mindanao is focused against internal security threats such as piracy and counter-insurgency. The recent appearance of Chinese warships and cutters has fueled the deployment of new units to face conventional threats in the southern waters.
Compared to the traditional maritime chokepoints between the Northern Philippines, Taiwan and Southern Japan, the waters around Mindanao can offer another less observed route into the open waters of the Pacific, according to Ben Lewis, founder of PLA Tracker, an organization dedicated to monitoring Chinese military activity and development.
“The Luzon Strait is heavily watched by Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan and the U.S. The Sulu Sea is much less so, which gives the PLAN another way into the Pacific and gets its crews familiar with it,” Lewis told USNI News.
Aaron-Matthew Lariosa
Aaron-Matthew Lariosa is a freelance defense journalist. His coverage focuses on Philippine defense modernization, the South China Sea and U.S. efforts in the first island chain.
Follow @AaronMatthewI_L
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