The Philippines Coast Guard says one of its ships was damaged after a collision with a Chinese Coast Guard vessel in the South China Sea Tuesday.
In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said Chinese coast guard ships carried out “dangerous maneuvers” against two Philippine coast guard ships, one of which sustained minor structural damage.
A separate statement by the Philippines’ task force on the South China Sea said four crewmen aboard the other vessel were injured when it was hit by water cannons from the Chinese Coast Guard ships.
The two ships were escorting two civilian vessels carrying supplies and a fresh rotation of troops to a Philippine warship intentionally grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal to maintain the archipelago’s claims on the submerged reef.
The Chinese coast guard issued a statement accusing the Philippine ships of illegally intruding into the waters around the shoal, which it calls Ren'ai Reef, prompting their vessels to take “control measures.”
China has claimed sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, ignoring competing claims by its regional neighbors, including the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Beijing and Manila have been locked in a bitter standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, a fisheries-rich atoll that was seized by China in 2012, despite it being inside the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
An international arbitration tribunal in the Hague said in 2016 that China's claims had no legal basis - a decision Beijing has rejected.
A Philippines fisheries vessel was recently challenged by Chinese coast guard ships while it was delivering fuel to Philippine fishermen working near the Scarborough Shoal.
The incident prompted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to call the presence of Chinese naval vessels in the waters near the Pacific archipelago “worrisome.”
