Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner speaks during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) at the military headquarters in Manila on Oct. 3, 2025. Ted Aljbe/ AFP via Getty ImagesMANILA, Philippines—The Philippines has protested the Chinese regime’s deployment of what Manila describes as a floating “structure” with personnel on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, fearing it could be a part of Beijing’s effort to turn the uninhabited atoll into an island base, Philippine officials said Tuesday.The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said, without elaborating, that it lodged a protest over the Chinese regime’s latest action on the Scarborough Shoal, which was spotted by the Philippine military and coast guard.