TAIPEI – Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships collided at sea, damaging at least two vessels, in an encounter early Monday near a new flashpoint in their increasingly alarming confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.
Each blamed the other for the collision near Sabina Shoal, a disputed atoll in the Spratly Islands, where Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. There were no reports of injuries.
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China’s coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel. It said in a statement on its website that two Philippine coast guard ships entered waters near the shoal, ignored a warning from the Chinese coast guard and intentionally collided with one of the Chinese boats at 3:24 a.m.
“The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision,” spokesperson Gan Yu said. “We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringement and provocation, otherwise it will bear all the consequences arising from that.”
Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the Philippine government’s National Security Council, accused the Chinese coast guard of falsely saying the Philippine coast guard ships had rammed its vessels.
Video and photographs, including ones taken by journalists from a U.S. TV network who were on board one of the Philippine coast guard ships, showed that the Chinese ships caused the collisions, Malaya told a news forum in Manila.
The Philippines’ National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said two of the coast guard ships, BRP Bagacay and BRP Cape Engaño, “encountered unlawful and aggressive maneuvers” from Chinese coast guard vessels while en route to Patag and Lawak islands, which are occupied by Filipino forces, in the contested region.
“These dangerous maneuvers resulted in collisions, causing structural damage to both Philippine Coast Guard vessels,” the statement said.
The Philippine coast guard said one of the Chinese ships rammed the BRP Cape Engaño, ripping a 1.1-meter (3.6-foot) hole on the right side. An engine exhaust was also damaged, it said.
About 16 minutes later, the other Philippine ship, BRP Bagacay, was rammed twice on its left and right sides by another Chinese vessel, leaving a hole 3 feet (36 inches) wide and 2.5 feet (30 inches) long and a dent that was 1 foot (12 inches) deep, the Philippine coast guard said.
"This is the biggest structural damage we have incurred as a result of the dangerous maneuvers carried out by the Chinese coast guard,” Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine coast guard said at the news forum.
The task force said the Philippine coast guard "stands firm in its responsibility to ensure the safety and security of our maritime domain while addressing any threats to our national interests.”
Gan, the Chinese coast guard spokesperson, said China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as the Nansha Islands, including Sabina Shoal and its adjacent waters. The Chinese name for Sabina Shoal is Xianbin Reef.
In a separate statement, he said a Philippine ship that was turned away from Sabina Shoal entered waters near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, ignoring the Chinese coast guard’s warnings. “The Chinese coast guard took control measures against the Philippine ship in accordance with law and regulation,” he added.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also blamed the Philippines for the incident. “Not only did they ignore China’s coast guard's warnings, the vessels deliberately collided into Chinese coast guard vessels that were carrying out law enforcement operations in a dangerous manner,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Monday.
Sabina Shoal, which lies about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the Philippines' western island province of Palawan, has become a new flashpoint in the territorial disputes between China and the Philippines.
The Philippine coast guard deployed one of its key patrol ships, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, to Sabina in April after Filipino scientists discovered submerged piles of crushed corals in its shallows that sparked suspicions that China may be preparing to build a structure at the atoll. The Chinese coast guard later deployed a ship to Sabina in a new territorial faceoff.
Sabina is near Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the scene of increasingly alarming confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships and accompanying vessels since last year.
China and the Philippines reached an agreement last month to prevent further confrontations when the Philippines transports replacement sentry forces, along with food and other supplies, to Manila’s territorial outpost in Second Thomas Shoal, which has been closely guarded by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships.
The Philippine navy transported food and personnel to Second Thomas Shoal a week after the deal was reached and no incident was reported, sparking hope that tensions in the shoal would ease. But Monday's incident raises questions about whether the deal will make a difference.
“We are of course disappointed again," Malaya said. “Despite this preliminary understanding, which we hoped was the first page in a new chapter between the Philippines and (Chinese) relations, we have … another incident."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao said, "We hope the Philippines will keep its promise, earnestly abide by the preliminary agreement it has reached with China, and not take actions that could complicate the situation so as to work with us to jointly manage and control the maritime situation.”
China has been at odds with many other countries in the Asia-Pacific for years over its sweeping maritime claims, including almost all of the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich waterway.
Beijing is rapidly expanding its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its territorial claims, giving rise to more frequent confrontations, primarily with the Philippines, though it is also involved in longtime territorial disputes with Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
U.S. Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said on the social media platform X that the United States stands with the Philippines “in condemning the China coast guard’s dangerous maneuvers near Sabina Shoal that endangered lives and caused damage” to the two Philippine vessels. “We are committed to supporting the rights of our friends, partners, allies under international law,” the statement said.
A 2016 arbitration ruling by a United Nations tribunal invalidated Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, but China did not participate in the proceedings and rejected the ruling.
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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.