By the same new incursion, the Chinese government is turning the screws a little tighter on both Taiwan and the Philippines. The party-state’s latest drills in the South China Sea are apparently designed to cow Manila and help with any eventual amphibious invasion of Taiwan (ISW, October 23, 2026). (We provide no link because the ISW site is offline until security updates are finalized. ISW is currently publishing only by email.)
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) deployed four Type 071 Landing Platform Deck ships [or “…Dock ships,” apparently more standard] in an unusual combat training formation in the South China Sea, possibly to support PRC efforts to intimidate the Philippines into reducing its activity around disputed maritime features. PRC state media reported that a formation made up of the [four] PLAN Type 071 Landing Platform Deck (LPD) ships…carried out live-fire combat training drills, including simulated air defense, target practice, and replenishment drills on October 14.
The Type 071 is designed to carry out and support amphibious operations and can carry air-cushion landing craft, helicopters, amphibious assault vehicles, and combat infantry. PRC state media also highlighted the Type 071 LPD’s importance in potential “island-reef assault, transportation and sovereignty defense missions in locations such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.”
PRC media stated that the Type 071 will likely serve to temporarily support People’s Liberation Army amphibious forces conducting amphibious landings…. PLAN amphibious assault ships like the Type 071 would likely play a key role in a potential amphibious invasion of Taiwan…. This marks the first instance of four PLAN Type 071 LPDs training together in a single formation since August 2025, and the first time that PRC media has reported four Type 071s operating together without other PLAN vessel types accompanying them.
The PRC may intend for this unusual training activity to signal to the Philippines the PLAN’s ability to seize and hold disputed maritime features in the South China Sea, and to intimidate the Philippines into reducing or stopping cooperative maritime activities with the US Navy near disputed maritime features.
Perhaps the People’s Republic hopes that its actions will cause Manila to retreat, but that Manila will do so hardly seems a foregone conclusion. Might not the attempt at intimidation instead encourage the Philippine government to continue and increase “cooperative maritime activities with the US Navy near disputed maritime features”?
The PRC keeps ratcheting up its hostilities and hoping that targeted countries will out of fear or exhaustion let themselves be conquered as long as this does not happen all at once. The world should not submit.
The ROC and the Philippines don’t seem to be submitting. Instead they have both acted to repel intruding Chinese vessels in recent weeks. And they are “taking steps to boost maritime ties after decades of distance, as rising pressure from Chinese vessels makes a case for closer cooperation at sea.”
Also see:
Reuters: “China sends naval forces to monitor US warship near disputed shoal” (October 20, 2026)
“China’s military said on Tuesday it had sent forces to watch a US warship that ‘illegally’ entered waters around a disputed shoal [Sabina Shoal] in the South China Sea, while further north in the waterway, Taiwan reported a standoff with a Chinese vessel…. Last month, a China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat on a refuelling mission near the same shoal, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. China blamed the collision on the Philippine side.”
Nikkei Asia: “Taiwan, Philippines kindle maritime cooperation in face of Chinese pressure” (October 19, 2026)
Stop the CCP: “PRC Attacks on Philippine Vessels So Far in 2026”
Summarizes incidents from January 12, 2026 to September 24, 2026.
Stop the CCP: “Tracking China’s Attacks in the South China Sea”
Describes sites of varying usability and completeness that have tracked or reported on PRC violence in the South China Sea.
