China and the Philippines traded blame on Sunday after their vessels collided again near a disputed South China Sea shoal, less than a week after a similar face-off in the area.
A Philippine ship “refused to accept control” by a Chinese coastguard vessel and “deliberately collided” with it on Sunday, China Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu said.
According to Gan, the ship delivered supplies to a Philippine coastguard vessel anchored at Sabina Shoal “despite repeated persuasion and warnings from China’s coastguard”.
“Filipino crew members who had fallen into the water” as a result of the collision were “immediately rescued on humanitarian grounds” by the Chinese coastguard, Gan added, saying Manila should take “full responsibility” for the incident.
However, the Philippines rejected this version of events, accusing the Chinese vessels instead of taking “aggressive and dangerous” action, including ramming and using water cannons on what it said was a fisheries bureau ship on a “humanitarian mission”.
According to Manila, the BRP Datu Sanday, a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ship, was targeted by eight Chinese vessels, including one from the navy.
The Chinese vessels tried to “encircle and block” the Datu Sanday, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said. It made “close perilous manoeuvres” that resulted in engine failure on the Philippine ship, forcing an early termination of the mission to supply Filipino fishermen with fuel, food and medical supplies.
“Claims suggesting that our personnel fell overboard and were subsequently rescued by the Chinese coastguard are completely unfounded,” the task force said.
China expelled the same vessel in February from Scarborough Shoal, another disputed South China Sea feature known in China as Huangyan Island and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.
Sunday’s was the second such confrontation in a week near the Sabina Shoal, after two Philippine coastguard ships were damaged in collisions with Chinese vessels early on Monday.
The reactions from either side were similar to those on Sunday, with Manila slamming “dangerous and illegal manoeuvres” by Chinese vessels and the Chinese coastguard saying the “deliberate” collision arose from “unprofessional and dangerous” moves from the Philippine side.
China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, the scene of increasingly tense maritime and air clashes with the Philippines in recent months over reefs, islands and other disputed features.
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Beijing, Manila trade ‘ramming’ claims in latest South China Sea coastguard incident
Beijing, Manila trade ‘ramming’ claims in latest South China Sea coastguard incident
On Saturday, the Philippines accused Beijing of “firing flares” within 15 metres (49 feet) of one of its patrol aircraft near Scarborough Shoal, a Chinese-controlled feature also claimed by Manila.
Earlier this month, Manila said two Chinese military aircraft made a “dangerous manoeuvre” and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force plane patrolling the Scarborough Shoal on August 8.
Sabina Shoal, known as Xianbin Reef in China and Escoda Shoal in the Philippines, could be of strategic value to the Philippines as a staging post for resupplying troops stationed in a grounded warship at the Manila-controlled Second Thomas Shoal.
China also claims the Second Thomas Shoal – called Renai Jiao by Beijing and Ayungin Shoal by Manila. The area is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, known in China as the Nansha Islands, and has been the site of several confrontations between the two countries since last year.
The situation in the South China Sea has raised concerns about accidents triggering a potential military conflict that could draw in the United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines.
Tensions have been particularly inflamed since April, when Manila sent one of its most advanced coastguard vessels, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, into waters close to Sabina Shoal.
According to Manila, the ship was sent to monitor what it called China’s illegal land reclamation activities at shoal – an accusation denied by Beijing.
The South China Sea is expected to be among the key topics on the table when US national security adviser Jake Sullivan meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first visit to China this week.
