A Chinese warship crashed into one of its own country’s coast guard vessels as it chased a patrol boat belonging to the Philippines, officials in Manila said Monday, after the latest territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
The ships dramatically collided near the Scarborough Shoal, a contested island, as the Filipino vessel was delivering fuel and supplies to more than 30 fishing boats, the country’s coast guard said in a statement Monday.
Several videos posted on X by Jay Tarriela, a spokesperson for the Philippines coast guard, showed the Chinese ships on both sides of its coast guard vessel, traveling at quite a pace. In one of the videos, a warship bearing the number 164 comes very close to the Filipino ship’s port side.
Another video showed a Chinese coast guard ship bearing the number 3104 appearing to bear down on the back of the Filipino boat when the warship appears from the left of the shot in front.
Although the Chinese coast guard vessel tries to turn, it appears to smash into the port side of its own country’s warship as the Filipino boat sails away.
It is unclear from the video how much damage was done or whether anyone on the Chinese ships was injured.
The Chinese coast guard acknowledged the confrontation in a statement Monday but did not refer to any collision.
Instead, it accused the Philippines of “intruding into waters” under the “pretext” of supplies, near the island that it called China’s “inherent territory.” It said it had acted in a “professional, regulated and lawful” manner.
The Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Department said in its statement that it was “seriously concerned” by China’s “dangerous maneuvers.”
The collision demonstrated the “importance of adhering to international maritime rules,” it said, adding that the crew of the patrol ship had “without hesitation offered medical aid and other relevant support to the Chinese side.”
It is unclear whether the offer was accepted.
Beijing claims sovereignty in over 80% of the South China Sea, energy-rich waters with an estimated 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil below them.
In the last decade, China has been actively building artificial islands in the region and added military bases, ports and airstrips, drawing criticism from the Philippines and Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, who also lay claim to parts of the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international court ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, declaring that many of China’s claims and actions in the South China Sea violated international law and rights of the Philippines.
But there have been several maritime clashes since then, including an incident in December when Chinese ships fired water cannons and rammed a Philippine patrol boat near the Scarborough Shoal.
