A group of six Chinese nationals have been charged with espionage by Philippine authorities for intelligence-gathering activities on vessels and critical infrastructure at Subic Bay, including U.S. Navy vessels.
In conjunction with local law enforcement and Philippine Navy SEALs, National Bureau of Investigation director Jaime Santiago personally led the raid that nabbed the Chinese at Grande Island last week. According to a bureau press release, the suspects gave chase during the enforcement of the warrant.
Chinese nationals Nan Ke, Xu Xining, Qui Feng/Quing Feng, Ye Xiaocan, Dick Ang and Su Anlong were arrested in the raid. Melvin Aguillon, a Philippine citizen who acted as the group’s bodyguard, was also arrested for carrying an unregistered firearm.
Located at the entrance of Subic Bay, Grande Island formerly hosted U.S. Army coastal defenses and South Vietnamese refugees. Today, the resort on the island offers views overlooking Subic Bay. Philippine military intelligence claimed that this vantage point allowed the Chinese nationals to gather sensitive data related to national security.
The NBI claimed that the group disguised themselves as fishermen to get close to naval assets and other facilities throughout the bay for intelligence collection. Among the assets employed by the Chinese nationals were drones, which local witnesses saw a day before the raid.
Gumagamit din umano sila ng drone habang nagpapanggap umano na “recreational fishers.” | via @_KarenDeGuzman
(📸: NBI CCD-STF) pic.twitter.com/eq4AheLsGa
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) March 26, 2025
USS Savannah (LCS-28), an Independence-class littoral combat ship, and a Henry J. Kaiser–class replenishment oiler were among the photographed vessels found on the group’s devices.
Photos shown to reporters also revealed that the Chinese nationals infiltrated Subic Bay International Airport during the staging of American military equipment entering the Philippines for exercises. A list detailing the arrival and departure of vessels from the bay in Chinese was also found on the suspects.
Since the U.S. withdrawal from Naval Base Subic Bay in 1992, the area has come under the jurisdiction of the Subic Bay Management Authority, a governmental authority that manages the freeport zone. In recent years – amid increasing tensions with Beijing over South China Sea disputes – Manila has opened a new naval base in the strategically positioned bay. Subic Bay is also slated to host a Philippine Coast Guard station and Philippine Air Force forward operating base.
Philippine authorities attribute the espionage to the strategic location of Subic Bay to tensions in the South China Sea, with an NBI release on the incident claiming that the Chinese Communist Party-United Front Work is conducting “covert and overt operations aligned with their geopolitical objectives in the region and the whole nation.”
“Subic Bay Freeport is NOT a safe haven for lawbreakers,” stated Subic Bay Management Authority Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño in a release.
The incident is the third case of Chinese nationals surveilling Philippine and U.S. military installations and assets since February. A group in Manila utilized light detection and ranging equipment to model bases and buildings in the National Capital Region, while another in Palawan collected data on Navy and Coast Guard ships assigned to the South China Sea.
