Qualla: Sabina Shoal https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sabina Shoal https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal Sabina Shoal: Introduction https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. At four in the morning on August 19, 2024, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel rammed the Philippine patrol ship BRP Cape Engano off Sabina Shoal. A 60 Minutes crew with journalist Cecilia Vega was aboard. Fourteen Chinese ships, a mix of coast guard cutters and maritime militia vessels, surrounded the Philippine ship. The impact tore a three-and-a-half-foot hole above the waterline. The same morning, the BRP Bagacay suffered a three-foot hole in its hull from a separate ramming. Sabina Shoal, a low-tide elevation that barely breaks the surface, had become the South China Sea's most dangerous address.

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Image: Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sabina Shoal: 75 Miles from Palawan https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sabina Shoal, also known as Escoda Shoal in the Philippines and Xianbin Jiao in China, lies 75 nautical miles from Palawan Island, well within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. The atoll covers 115 square kilometers, its eastern half consisting of reefs ...

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Image: Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-75-miles-from-palawan.mp3 0:06 2 full Sabina Shoal: Buoys and Militia Boats https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. Tensions at Sabina Shoal are not new. In 1995, shortly after occupying Mischief Reef, China installed three navigation buoys near the shoal. The Philippines confiscated them. In April 2021, a joint patrol by the Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries found seven Chinese m...

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Image: Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-buoys-and-militia-boats.mp3 0:06 3 full Sabina Shoal: Flag Raising and Ramming https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. On Philippine Independence Day in 2024, Rear Admiral Armando Balilo of the Philippine Coast Guard held a flag-raising ceremony aboard the Teresa Magbanua at Sabina Shoal, claiming the feature for the Philippines. China promised "strong measures." The measures arrived in August. O...

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Image: Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-flag-raising-and-ramming.mp3 0:06 4 full Sabina Shoal: Coral Casualties https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. The human confrontations at Sabina Shoal have an ecological parallel. In September 2023, the Philippine Coast Guard reported "massive damage" to the shoal's marine environment and coral reef. The destruction was attributed to dumping, illegal fishing, and land reclamation activit...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-coral-casualties.mp3 0:06 5 full Sabina Shoal: No End in Sight https://qualla.com/sabina-shoal/ Photo credit Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 4.0. By late August 2024, up to 71 Chinese coast guard ships and other vessels had been counted at Sabina Shoal in a single week. China warned it might tow the Teresa Magbanua away if the Philippines anchored there again, though analysts noted the practical difficulty of towing a 97-m...

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Image: Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/d/z/sabina-shoal-wp/w9dz-sabina-shoal-no-end-in-sight.mp3 0:06 6 full