By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News
Opinion – December 15, 2025 (Scheduled 02:30 a.m. ET)

China’s behavior in the West Philippine Sea this month isn’t just reckless—it’s part of a larger pattern of arrogant, unprofessional, and strategically dim-witted conduct stretching from the South China Sea to the waters near Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Beijing wants to be seen as a great maritime power, yet it keeps acting like a spoiled maritime toddler with warships.

Let’s not mince words: the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army Navy have become the bad eggs of the Indo-Pacific. Every nation in the region knows it. Many are simply too polite to say it out loud.

I am not polite.

A Superpower That Acts Like a Street Bully

The first eleven days of December told us everything we need to know. Philippine authorities logged 20 Chinese coast guard and naval vessels prowling inside the Philippine EEZ (ABS-CBN News, 2025). Not “passing through.” Not “innocent navigation.” No—lingering, circling, flexing.

Then came the December 6 incident, when Chinese forces fired signal flares at a Philippine patrol aircraft conducting lawful surveillance (AP News, 2025; Las Vegas Sun, 2025). Nothing says “we’re a responsible global power” quite like pointing flares at a neighbor’s airplane.

And while that was happening, the Chinese maritime militia—Beijing’s state-sponsored sea gang—was busy clustering around reefs where Filipino fishermen depend on their livelihoods. Six militia vessels at Rozul Reef. More than fifty Chinese vessels elsewhere across the WPS, documented by the Philippine Coast Guard itself (PCG/Instagram, 2025).

These aren’t misunderstandings. This is deliberate.

But the stupidity of it is bigger than the Philippines.

This Pattern Runs from the Senkakus to the Tasman Sea

China wants to dominate the entire region, but instead of behaving like a 21st-century nation, it’s behaving like a cheap knockoff of 19th-century gunboat diplomacy.

Against Japan, Chinese ships regularly harass Japanese vessels around the Senkaku Islands. Tokyo’s restraint is the only reason the situation hasn’t blown up in Beijing’s face.

Against Australia, Beijing has stared down Canberra for years while simultaneously sending ships into Pacific and Southern waters like it owns the place.

Near New Zealand, Chinese naval movements have been creeping into areas Wellington historically considered low-risk, raising alarms about Beijing’s long-term ambitions in the South Pacific.

Across the Philippine Sea, early December Reuters reporting confirms a sweeping redeployment of Chinese naval assets across East Asia—a show of force with all the subtlety of a bar fight (Reuters, 2025).

Everywhere China sails, the same thing happens: intimidation, overreach, and a complete lack of professional military conduct.

If the PLAN were a private shipping company, it would’ve been blacklisted and sued into oblivion.

Beijing’s Playbook Is Starting to Backfire

Beijing thinks this bullying makes it look strong. It doesn’t.

It makes China look insecure, isolated, unable to win trust without coercion, strategically tone-deaf, afraid of international law, and afraid of its neighbors working together against it.

The world is watching Beijing sabotage its own credibility.

Meanwhile, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, and Vietnam consistently show restraint. Even the U.S.—which has every military reason to posture—sticks to diplomatic statements and treaty commitments rather than escalating.

China, by contrast, fires flares at airplanes.

The Indo-Pacific Can See the Bad Eggs Clearly Now

The Chinese Communist Party has misread the room. Every stunt in the West Philippine Sea only tightens regional cooperation against Beijing. Every maritime militia cluster only strengthens alliances. Every naval redeployment only convinces more countries to speak openly about Chinese coercion.

When fishermen in Palawan and Zambales can’t work safely, when Japanese patrols face constant harassment, and when Australian and New Zealand observers must now track Chinese movements in waters traditionally free of such games—the illusion of China’s “peaceful rise” dies a little more.

The Indo-Pacific doesn’t fear China’s power. It’s tired of China’s behavior.

And until Beijing reins in its bad eggs, the rest of us have no choice but to call them exactly what they are.

APA References

ABS-CBN News. (2025, December 9). AFP: 20 Chinese coast guard, naval ships monitored in West Philippine Sea in first week of December. https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/9/afp-20-china-ships-monitored-in-west-ph-sea-in-first-week-of-december-1424

AP News. (2025). Philippines says China fired flares toward its patrol plane in the disputed South China Sea. https://apnews.com/article/050582ac9f143beec3841e2ae9b25e2b

Daily Guardian. (2025). Communities seen as key defenders in West Philippine Sea. https://dailyguardian.com.ph/communities-seen-as-key-defenders-in-west-philippine-sea/

Las Vegas Sun. (2025). Philippines says China fired flares toward its patrol plane. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/dec/06/philippines-says-china-fired-flares-toward-its-pat/

PCG/Instagram. (2025). West Philippine Sea vessel monitoring report. https://www.instagram.com/p/DR7YiRBD6HL/

Reuters. (2025). China massing military ships across region in show of maritime force. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-massing-military-ships-across-region-show-maritime-force-sources-say-2025-12-04/

Reuters. (2025). China warns Philippines over maritime incident. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-tells-philippines-stop-provocations-after-south-china-sea-vessel-clash-2025-10-13/

Wikipedia. (2025). Philippine Maritime Zones Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Maritime_Zones_Act

For more social commentary, see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

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