A Philippine ship and a Chinese vessel collided near the Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Monday.
Known in Chinese as the Ren’ai Reef, the Second Thomas Shoal hosts a garrison of Philippine troops on a grounded navy vessel, the Sierra Madre, to assert Manila’s claims to the waters.
The area has seen a number of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships, often during Philippine attempts to supply the garrison.
The Shoal lies about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.
The Chinese coast guard said in a statement that a Philippine resupply ship in the area had ignored many solemn warnings from the Chinese side.
‘It approached the Chinese vessel in an unprofessional way, resulting in a collision’, the statement said.
Beijing accused the ship of having illegally broken into the sea near Ren’ai Reef in China’s Nansha Islands. The Chinese Coast Guard took control measures against the Philippine ship in accordance with the law.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
Comments