China and the Philippines blamed each other on Aug. 19 after their coast guard vessels collided in the South China Sea, days after trading accusations over an air incident.
The China Coast Guard claimed that a Philippine vessel deliberately rammed into a Chinese vessel, while the Philippines asserted that dangerous maneuvers by two China Coast Guard vessels resulted in damage to two Philippine Coast Guard vessels.
The incident comes amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Manila and is the latest in a series of skirmishes between the two countries since a dispute over sovereignty claims in the region intensified during the past two years.
The collisions occurred in the early hours of Aug. 19 near the Sabina Shoal, also called the Escoda Shoal by the Philippines or Xianbin Jiao (Reef) by the Chinese, in a part of the South China Sea that the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea.
According to Philippine authorities, two Philippine Coast Guard vessels, BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410) and BRP Cape Engaño (MRRV-4411), were on their way to deliver supplies to its outposts on Patag and Lawak islands, which China calls the Feixin and Nanshan islands, when the collisions happened.
The China Coast Guard publicized the incident first by releasing two clips on Chinese social media platforms, allegedly showing a collision between the MRRV-4410 and China’s CCGV 21551.
Captions on the footage state that MRRV-4410 tried to collide with China’s CCGV 21551, first without success at 3:23 a.m. before succeeding with a second attempt at 3:25 a.m.
In a statement released via China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, China Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu said that MRRV-4410 had “ignored multiple warnings” and deliberately rammed into CCGV 21551 “in an unprofessional, dangerous manner.”
Gan said China Coast Guard personnel were containing the two Philippines vessels “according to the law” after they “illegally” entered the area without permission from the Chinese communist regime.
He placed the full blame on the Philippines, accusing the country of provocations and warning of “consequences.”
In a separate statement published by Xinhua, Gan said MRRV-4410 had continued to “trespass” in an area of the sea near the Second Thomas Shoal, which is also called Renai Reef by the Chinese regime and Ayungin Shoal by the Philippines.
‘Unlawful and Aggressive Maneuvers’
The Philippines disputed China’s version of the events.Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general at the National Security Council of the Philippines, said in a statement that the two Philippine vessels had “encountered unlawful and aggressive maneuvers from Chinese Coast Guard vessels while en route to Patag and Lawak Islands in the West Philippine Sea.”
“These dangerous maneuvers resulted in collisions, causing structural damage to both [Philippine Coast Guard] vessels,” the statement reads.
China’s CCGV-3104 collided with the Philippines’ MRRV-4411 at about 3:24 a.m. At 3:40 a.m., MRRV-4410 “was rammed twice on both her port and starboard sides by CCGV 21551, leading to minor structural damage,” according to the statement.
The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) said both vessels would continue with their mission of delivering essential supplies.
‘Increasingly Aggressive’
William Freer, research fellow at British think tank The Council on Geostrategy, said that the incident is another “act of bullying by the Chinese coast guard” that “highlights the increasingly aggressive approach Beijing is taking to reinforce its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.”“The bigger picture is just as concerning. The actions of the Chinese Coast Guard are enabled by the remarkable, and continuing, expansion of the People’s Liberation Army (in particular in the maritime domain) and Beijing’s steady militarisation of the South China Sea,” he said in an email to The Epoch Times.
Freer said that the “long-term trends of increasingly aggressive behavior and continued military expansion should serve as a warning,” calling for a more collective approach to maintaining international maritime norms in the region.
On Aug. 16, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told the Chinese state-run Global Times, “The entry and prolonged stay of Philippine vessels in the lagoon of Xianbin Jiao without authorization seriously infringes on China’s sovereignty, violates the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and poses a severe threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
NTF-WPS spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela responded to the comment, saying that the Escoda Shoal is “located within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 arbitral award,” referring to a 2016 international ruling from The Hague.
Tarriela said the Philippine Coast Guard also has the right to patrol the Escoda Shoal without permission from any other country and maintains a presence there to protect against illegal poachers and illegal fishing activities that damage the marine environment.
The new rules allow the China Coast Guard to detain suspected trespassers without trial for 60 days.
Two days after the law took effect, China Coast Guard personnel boarded Philippine supply boats on June 17.
Philippine military officials said Chinese coast guard personnel were carrying knives and spears, looted firearms, “deliberately punctured” Philippine boats involved in the mission, and that a sailor had lost a finger in the incident.
