Marine forces of China and the Philippines engaged in an accident on Monday in the South China Sea that has seen Beijing accuse Manila of deliberately ramming a coast guard ship into it China vessel. For its part, the Philippines charged China with disinformation and promptly published pictures allegedly taken during the episode where the Chinese vessels were nearly totally obliterated by more lawful and assertive actions by the Philippine coast guard.
Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels came into contact at sea Sunday, with at least two boats sustaining damage, in an incident near a fresh hotspot in what is rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the contested South China Sea.
They accused one another for the accident that occurred at Sabina Shoal, a reef in the South China Sea, which is also part of the Spratly Islands on which Vietnam and Taiwan likewise have claims. None of the people involved had sustained injuries.
China Said
China said it was another day of bravado by the Philippines after its coast guard deliberately ram into one of its ships. The Philippine coast guard sent two ships to the vicinity of the shoal, paid no attention to the Chinese coast guard’s notice, and ram into one of the Chinese vessels at 3:24 a. m., according to statements on the Chinese coast guard’s official website.
The spokesman of Chinese side Gan Yu said’ ‘Entirely out of the blame lies with the Philippine side’ “We advise the side of the Philippines to cease its violation and incitement at once, otherwise, it will take full responsibility for something which might emerge from that.”
Philippine government spokesman Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said that the Chinese coast guard released fallacious information that the Philippine coast guard ships rammed its vessels.
Video and photographs, including those by the journalists of a U. S. TV network who were on a Philippine coast guard ship, proved that the Chinese ships were actually to blame for the latest collisions at sea, Malaya said at a news forum in Manila.
Philippines’
According to the Philippines’ National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea, two vessels of the coast guard’s, BRP Bagacay and BRP Cape Engaño reported the Chinese coast guard performing ‘unlawful and aggressive movements’ around Patrol Gang Boats while on its way to Patag and Lawak islands, occupied by Filipinos in the disputed area.
“These dangerous maneuvers led to an accident resulting to damages on the structures of both vessels that belongs to the Philippine Coast Guard,” it said.
The task force also said that the collision between BRP Cape Engaño and one of the Chinese ships caused a hole on the deck of the Philippines vessel that measures about 5 inches in diameter or 12.
Another 15 minutes later, Philippine ship BRP Bagacay was hit on both its port and starboard side by a different Chinese vessel which caused some structural damage, the task force said.
“This is he biggest structural damage we have suffered due to the dangerous manoeuvres performed by the Chinese coast guard,” manning a news forum in Manila, the Philippine coast guard Commodore, Jay Tarriela, said.
“The (Philippine Coast Guard) continues to assert and operate on its mandate presiding over the safety and protection of our maritime territories as well as engaging with any challenges to our sovereignty,” they added.
Gan stated that according to China it possesses ‘undeniable sovereignty’ over the so called Spratly Islands – Nansha Islands which include Sabina Shoal and its surrounding sea area. The Chinese name for Sabina Shoal is Xianbin Reef.
Sabina Shoal
Meanwhile, he said that the Philippine ship which was refused to enter Sabina Shoal sailed into waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, without heeding the warning of the Chinese coast guard. ”They asserted that the Chinese coast guard has taken the control measures against the Philippine ship in accordance with law and regulation,” he said.
Sabina Shoal located around 140 km west of the Philippine’s western island province of Palawan has emerged a fresh conduit for the China-Philippines territorial conflict.
The Philippine coast guard sent one of its main line patrol vessels, the BRP Teresa Magbanua to Sabina in April after Filipino scientists found submerged mounds of crushed coral in the shallow waters of Sabina which raised complexions that China may be preparing to build a structure in the atoll. The Chinese coast guard subsequently sent a ship to Sabina in another territorial stand off.
Sabina floats near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Philippines, which was occupied by the Chinese coast guard ships and accompanying vessels and has been a site of more and more dangerous incidents since last year.
China and the Philippines
China and the Philippines agreed in May to avoid more such incidents when the Philippines re-supplies fresh batches of sentry forces, as well as food and other essentials, to the Second Thomas Shoal, an occupied military post in the disputed waters, which has been surrounded by Chinese coast guard vessels and naval patrol boats, and suspected militia boats.
A week after the POGO deal was signed, the Philippine navy ferried more food and personnel to the Second Thomas Shoal and no move was made by China to escalate the tension in the shoal.
“We are of course disappointed again,” Malaya said. “Despite this preliminary understanding, which we thought would signal the first page in a new chapter of Philippines-PRC relations, we have … another incident.
The Shoal of Sabina, located in the South China Sea some 87miles away from the western coast of the Island of Palawan, has emerged as a new theatre of contestation of territorial sovereignty between China and the Philippines.
Beijing is currently in the middle of a military buildup and has acted more aggressively in protecting its claims, so there are even more direct confrontations, mostly with Philippines, but is also in a long-standing territorial dispute with Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.
In 2016, a United Nations arbitration court nullified Beijing’s assertions to the territorial rights of the South China Sea but China did not take part in the case and dismissed the judgment.