The Philippines said it was sending a vessel to Sabina Shoal to replace a coast guard ship that returned to port on Sunday after a five-month deployment at the contested feature in the South China Sea, in a swap that would likely irk China.

Beijing had demanded the Philippines withdraw the 318-foot coast guard vessel Teresa Magbanua it claimed was "illegally stranded" at the atoll, which it asserts it owns as part of its broader claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.

"The Philippine side's actions have seriously infringed on China's territorial sovereignty," Liu Dejun, a spokesperson for China's coast guard said in a statement on Sunday about what it referred to as Manila's "withdrawal" of its ship.

A TIMELINE OF CLASHES BETWEEN CHINA AND THE PHILIPPINES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, FOLLOWING LATEST SHIP COLLISION

Teresa Magbanua, which was deployed at Sabina Shoal to monitor what Manila suspects to be China's small-scale land reclamation activities in the area, has returned to port as its mission has been accomplished, the Philippine Coast Guard and National Maritime Council (NMC) said. "Another will immediately take over," NMC spokesperson Alexander Lopez said, citing an order from the Philippine Coast Guard chief. "Definitely, we will keep our presence there."

Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as Xianbin Reef and the Philippines as the Escoda Shoal, lies 93 miles west of the Philippine province of Palawan, well within the country's exclusive economic zone.

Teresa Magbanua's presence there has angered Beijing, turning the shoal into the latest flashpoint in the contested waterway.

Manila and Beijing have traded accusations of intentional ramming of each others' vessels near Sabina last month, just after reaching a pact on resupply missions to a beached Filipino naval ship in the Second Thomas Shoal.

Teresa Magbanua's return was necessary for the medical needs of its crew and to undergo repairs, and once it has been resupplied and repaired, it will resume its mission, along with other coast guard and military assets "as defenders of our sovereignty," Lucas Bersamin, executive secretary and NMC chairman said in a statement.

The move followed high-level talks between Manila and Beijing in China last week when the Philippines reaffirmed its position on Sabina and China reiterated its demand that the vessel be withdrawn.

China's coast guard said it would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in the waters under Beijing's jurisdiction in accordance with the law and safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, overlapping into maritime zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

In 2016, the Hague arbitration tribunal voided China's expansive and historical claims, a decision Beijing rejects.

Leonard Leo, who operates a vast network of conservative nonprofits, called on his groups to start "weaponizing" their ideas, something he said the left has been championing over the years. 

A letter sent to groups supported by Leo's 85 Fund on Wednesday said it would be undergoing a "comprehensive review" of entities it supports, and "will be adjusting the extent to which it funds ideas and policy development." The goal, according to Leo's letter, is to ensure their philanthropic efforts are not overly focused on "ideation," or as Leo describes it, "the development of and education about conservative ideas and policies." Rather, Leo wants his groups to adopt more aggressive tactics that "weaponize" their ideas and produce more tangible results, something he suggested liberals have championed effectively for their causes.  

"The Left built powerful networks of activists, academics, journalists, and philanthropists, along with professionals from other disciplines, who could collaborate to influence public attitudes and generate political pressure on public officials," Leo said. "They invested in talent pipelines to populate the power centers inside government, where policy would be implemented. They incubated litigation as a means of leveraging the law to produce change. And, beyond politics and law, left-wing philanthropy built or took over enormous infrastructure to control various cultural chokepoints."

"In contrast," Leo continued, "vastly insufficient funds are going toward operationalizing and weaponizing [conservative] ideas and policies to crush liberal dominance."

‘STOP PRETENDING’: CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST WANTS DEMS BEHIND SCOTUS ETHICS RULES TO TAKE THEIR OWN MEDICINE 

Leo, the co-chairman and former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a group focusing on advancing the principles of a limited, constitutional government, controls a $1.6 billion war chest.  The money was given to him by industrialist Barre Seid to fund his network of conservative groups.

Leo's letter cited the George Soros-funded Tides Foundation and the Hansjörg Wyss-backed Arabella Advisors as examples of groups that "incubate action-oriented campaigns." He pointed to their support of nationwide NGOs like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). SJP has been at the forefront of drumming up anti-Israel sentiment at college campuses across the country since Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack that killed over a thousand innocent Israelis and took hundreds hostage. Meanwhile, WPATH has been at the forefront of the transgender movement, publishing standards of care that doctors and public officials alike have used to justify "gender-affirming care" for minors.

"With donors like Hansjörg Wyss and the Arabella Advisors network having billions at their disposal, the left is able to significantly outspend the conservative movement to shift American society," Leo told Fox News Digital. "Consequently, we need to do more with less, focusing on leveraging the conservative movement's talent to have impact, if we want to be successful."

Leo has been credited with transforming the Federalist Society into the powerhouse lawfare organization it is today with more than 70,000 members. Meanwhile, Leo has also been considered one of the foremost influences on former President Trump's Supreme Court nominations. Prior to Trump's selection of Federalist Society-backed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Leo drew up a list of potential judges that Trump released during his 2016 campaign.  

LEONARD LEO WARNS BIDEN-HARRIS EFFORTS TO RADICALLY OVERHAUL SUPREME COURT COULD ‘BACKFIRE’  

After Trump was elected, Leo stepped away from his daily duties with the Federalist Society, but remained its co-chair. Meanwhile, in 2022, Leo's Marble Freedom Trust received a $1.6 billion gift from American businessman and GOP donor Barre Seid. Leo still has roughly $1 billion left to spend, the Financial Times reported this week after analyzing public financial disclosures. A representative for Leo declined to share how many total NGOs receive financial support from the 85 Fund. 

"Expect us to increase support for organizations that call out companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus spread by regulators and NGOs, so that they have to pay a price for putting extreme left-wing ideology ahead of consumers," Leo said during a rare interview he granted to the Financial Times. 

Leo told the outlet that his Marble Freedom Trust has been increasingly focused on going after "woke" banks and China-friendly entities across a range of sectors, such as food production and artificial intelligence. Leo also indicated he plans to invest in local media in the U.S. over the next year.  

The call from Leo for his groups to "operationalize" and "weaponize" their ideas has been met with anger from liberal critics. 

"Leonard Leo’s brazen call to 'weaponize' the conservative movement further exposes his strategy of using his dark money network to force his right-wing agenda on everyday Americans and stack the deck in favor of the powerful few," said Carolina Ciccone, president of NGO watchdog Accountable.US. "Let’s be very clear: This isn't just about shaping conservative thought — it’s about weaponizing the very institutions that are set up to protect the rights of everyday Americans to serve the interests of right-wing special interests."

Jay Willis, former GQ writer and current editor-in-chief of progressive commentary website Balls & Strikes, accused Leo of trying to rebrand "as an Elon Musk-style culture warrior who rants about the ‘woke mind virus.’"