Chinese and Philippines collide again in disputed waters, trade blames

Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships have collided at sea, damaging at least two boats, in an encounter near a new flashpoint in their increasingly alarming confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.

Both blamed the other for the collision near Sabina Shoal on Monday, where Vietnam and Taiwan also made overlapping claims. There were no reports of injuries.

China’s coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel. Two Philippine Coast Guard ships entered waters near the shoal, ignored the Chinese Coast Guard's warning, and intentionally collided with one of China’s boats, a spokesperson said on the Chinese Coast Guard's website.

“The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision,” spokesman 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 disinformation for saying that the Philippine coast guard ships rammed its vessels.

The Philippines’ National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said two of the Coast Guard's ships, BRP Bagacay and BRP Cape Engaño, “encountered unlawful and aggressive manoeuvres” 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 manoeuvres resulted in collisions, causing structural damage to both Philippine Coast Guard vessels,” the statement read.

“This is the biggest structural damage we have incurred as a result of the dangerous manoeuvres carried out by the Chinese Coast Guard,” Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard told the news forum in Manila.

Sabina Shoal which lies about 140 kilometres west of the Philippines' western island province of Palawan, has become a new flashpoint in the territorial disputes between China and the Philippines.