A Chinese research vessel, the Ji Di, travelled approximately 74 kilometres into Palau's Exclusive Economic Zone between May 30 and 31 and reportedly remained there for 14 hours, according to tracking data cited by the Pacific Centre of Island Security. Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr said the incursion was uninvited and raised unresolved questions about China's intentions.
Chinese icebreaker entered Palau's exclusive economic zone uninvited, president says
A Chinese research vessel, the Ji Di, travelled approximately 74 kilometres into Palau's Exclusive Economic Zone between May 30 and 31 and reportedly remained there for 14 hours, according to tracking data cited by the Pacific Centre of Island Security. Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr said the incursion was uninvited and raised unresolved questions about China's intentions.
The Ji Di is an 89-metre icebreaker launched in 2024 and designed, according to Chinese state media, to conduct environmental monitoring and surveying related to climate change. Its equipment includes unmanned drones and underwater vehicles capable of mapping the sea floor and collecting data on undersea minerals, ocean currents, and marine ecosystems.
President Whipps described the May incursion as part of a pattern, citing similar incidents in 2018, 2024, and 2025. In 2023, a Chinese vessel allegedly operated near Palau's fibre optic cable. Whipps also said a further incursion occurred in July, a day after China launched a ballistic missile from a submarine that flew over multiple Pacific islands. The ABC said it was unable to independently confirm the July incursion.
The Pacific Centre of Island Security, a think tank that tracks vessels and geopolitical activity in the region, reported that 16 Chinese research vessels have been deployed into the north Pacific in the current year.
A 2024 investigation by the Center for Strategic and International Studies examined 64 Chinese research vessels and found that 80 per cent demonstrated suspicious behaviour or had organisational links suggesting involvement in advancing Beijing's geopolitical agenda. The same study concluded that China has developed the largest fleet of civilian research vessels in the world, with surveys heavily concentrated in the South China Sea and western Pacific Ocean.
A 2025 study published in the journal Frontiers in Political Science noted that, unlike other countries, China does not distinguish between ships operating for naval survey, scientific research, or commercial purposes.
Leland Bettis, director of the Pacific Centre for Island Security, said the Ji Di was tracked in May following a 'lawnmower pattern' — described as typical of oceanographic survey work — near Guam, where US submarines are based. He said the vessel may have been mapping the ocean floor along a corridor likely to be used by US submarines, and that Chinese research vessels could be attempting to track submarine 'signatures' or planting listening devices.
Jennifer Parker, an adjunct professor of defence and security at the University of Western Australia and a former Australian anti-submarine warfare officer, said detailed sea floor mapping aids both submarine navigation and submarine detection, as the shape and depth of the seabed and ocean temperature affect how sound travels through the water. She said the scale and location of China's activities suggested they could be gathering intelligence to conduct submarine and anti-submarine warfare against the United States.
Parker noted that marine scientific research conducted inside another country's EEZ without permission constitutes a breach of international law, and said China is the only country she could identify that conducts survey operations in other countries' EEZs at scale.
A recent Lowy Institute report on China's military identified developing the capability to invade Taiwan and deterring or defeating US intervention as two main priorities of the People's Liberation Army. Guam, home to multiple US nuclear submarines, is described as a likely staging area for any US intervention in a Taiwan conflict.
Palau filed a diplomatic complaint to China stating the incursion showed disregard for its sovereignty and the rules-based international order. Parker said Palau's practical options to prevent China from entering its maritime zone are limited.
China defended the activities of its vessels in a separate incident, stating in July that an alleged incursion near the Japanese island of Okinawa was 'legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach.' The ABC said it reached out to the Chinese embassy for comment on the Palau incident.
- The Chinese embassy did not respond to the ABC's request for comment on the specific Palau incursion, so China's position on this particular incident is not established.
- The July 2025 incursion near Palau's fibre optic cable could not be independently confirmed by the ABC.
- The source does not establish what, if any, data the Ji Di actually collected during its time in Palau's EEZ.
- The source does not detail what specific legal or diplomatic remedies are available to Palau under international law.
- The source does not clarify whether any of the other 15 Chinese research vessels deployed to the north Pacific this year conducted similar incursions into other nations' EEZs.
Read the original at ABC News Australia