Philippines blames China for ‘personnel injury and vessel damage' in South China Sea collision

Manila has accused China of injuring Filipino personnel and damaging Philippine vessels during a South China Sea collision earlier this week, as tensions simmer over territorial disputes in the resource-rich and strategically important waterway. The Philippines and China have both blamed each other for the clash Monday near Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands. It follows multiple reports of injuries to Filipino sailors as well as from US officials. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs ‘denounces the illegal and aggressive actions of Chinese authorities that resulted in personnel injury and vessel damage,’ the statement said, without specifying how many sailors were wounded or providing any details of their injuries. At least eight Filipinos were injured in the incident – including one sailor who lost a thumb, it was reported.   When asked about the incident, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said ’law enforcement measures taken by the Chinese Coast Guard on the spot were professional and restrained, aimed at stopping the illegal fishing by Philippine ships, and no direct measures were taken against Philippine personnel.’ The incident Monday is the latest in a string of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships, that have raised the possibility of the South China Sea becoming a flashpoint for global conflict. It comes just weeks after Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. warned that the death of any Filipino citizen at the hands of another country in the waterway would be ‘very close’ to an act of war.   China claims ‘indisputable sovereignty’ over almost all of the South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. Multiple governments, including Manila, hold competing claims. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea. But Beijing has ignored the ruling. Instead, it has pushed its maritime territorial claims, with China Coast Guard ships involved in multiple clashes over the past year that have damaged Philippine ships and seen Filipino sailors injured by water cannon.   Known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines and Ren’ai Jiao in China, Second Thomas Shoal is a submerged teardrop-shaped reef located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan. It lies in the Spratly Islands, a mostly uninhabited archipelago where oil and gas reserves have been found, and which is claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.   The Philippines carried a resupply on Monday to its soldiers stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusting US-built Philippine Navy landing craft that was run aground deliberately in 1999, with a national flag hoisted on board, to assert Manila’s territorial claims over Second Thomas Shoal. The Chinese coast guard on Monday said a Philippine supply ship ‘ignored China’s repeated solemn warnings’ and ‘deliberately and dangerously’ approached a Chinese vessel in ‘an unprofessional manner,’ resulting in a collision. China’s Coast Guard also said it took measures including ‘warnings and interceptions, boarding inspections, and forced evictions’ against the Philippine vessels. Multiple US officials criticized China’s actions Monday and stressed Washington’s support for Manila. The ‘United States stands with its ally the Philippines and condemns the escalatory and irresponsible actions’ by China, a US State Department spokesperson said.