A Chinese and a Philippine maritime police boat collided in the South China Sea off Sabina Shoal on Monday, the China Coast Guard Administration said.
Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Geng Yu said the Philippine vessel “deliberately collided” with the Chinese ship early Monday morning. Geng said, using the Chinese names for the Sabina Shoal and the Spratly Islands:
Philippine coast guard vessels … illegally entered the waters near the Xianbin Reef in the Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government. The China coast guard took control measures against the Philippine vessels in accordance with the law.
Manila’s National Task Force in the West Philippine Sea, meanwhile, said two of its coast guard ships were damaged in a collision with Chinese vessels engaged in “illegal and aggressive manoeuvres” near Sabina Bank.
Manila said the collision “resulted in structural damage to both Philippine Coast Guard ships.”
China and the Philippines have clashed repeatedly on the vital waterway in recent months, including over a warship grounded by Manila several years ago off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where the garrison is based. Beijing continues to insist on its claim to almost the entire South China Sea, despite an international tribunal ruling that its claims have no legal basis.
China has for many years been engaged in disputes with a number of countries over the territorial ownership of certain islands in the South China Sea, where significant hydrocarbon reserves have been discovered. The main disputes concern the Paracel Islands (Xisha), the Nansha Archipelago (Spratlys) and Huangyan Reef (Scarborough), affecting the interests of Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
China also claims Sabina Bank, which lies 140 kilometres (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan, the closest major landmass to it. It is more than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan Island.
