On September 18, while the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources government vessel BRP Datu Magat Salamat was carrying out a mission in the waters off Palawan, it was rammed by China Coast Guard ship 21585, resulting in damage to the Philippine ship's starboard side. The Philippine side accused China of a deliberate collision, while the Chinese side claimed the Philippine vessel made an illegal diagonal cut causing a scrape, and insisted its own operation was lawful.
On September 15, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung confirmed in an exclusive interview that Taiwan is preparing to establish an additional office in Cebu, Philippines, and that the preparatory work is progressing smoothly. He stated that Taiwan and the Philippines are both located in the first island chain and are both oppressed by China; the new office will serve more people, promote a Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor, and deepen economic, trade, and personnel exchanges between the two sides.
At the Seoul Security Dialogue, a Philippine official publicly read a note on the South China Sea position submitted by the Chinese embassy and refuted it on the spot, criticizing China for not respecting international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, while also accusing such behavior of disregarding the etiquette of the host country, South Korea, and the participants.
A topic on Weibo hot search, 'Never buy cheap drinks online', has emerged. The reason may be that some drinks, after being soaked by floods, were salvaged by unscrupulous merchants and resold. Videos point out deficiencies in China's system for tracking and destroying goods after disasters.
A netizen returning from the front lines of the Hengzhou flood in Guangxi reported a phenomenon of 'receiving supplies based on connections' in the disaster area, and stated that the death toll would become a historical mystery. Volunteers also described the dire situation in the disaster area and the difficulties in distributing supplies.
During the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), China took the rare step of launching a ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine, which landed directly in the Pacific Ocean.
The Xinhua News Agency's Ban Yue Tan magazine published an investigative report, exposing that public officials within the CCP system use their positions to obtain internal secrets in advance about officials being promoted or being arrested by the disciplinary committee, and then post them online in the form of “official resumes” or homophonic coded short videos, charging fees.
A WeChat public account published a detailed resume of Zhou Xianwang, Vice Chairman of the Hubei Provincial Political Consultative Conference, on July 6, 2025. Two days later, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection officially announced Zhou Xianwang's downfall. This precise "timing" prediction is pointed to as being behind a lucrative business.
The last time China conducted a missile test was in September 2024.