Beijing (China): China and the Philippines accused each other on Saturday of deliberately ramming their coast guard ships near a flashpoint shoal in the South China Sea, the latest in a spate of similar incidents in recent weeks.
China claims almost all of the economically vital waterway despite competing claims from other countries and an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
A Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson said Saturday's incident took place off the disputed Sabina Shoal, which has emerged as a new hotspot in the long-running maritime confrontations between Manila and Beijing.
Sabina Shoal is located 140 kilometres (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometres from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese landmass.
Shortly after noon (0400 GMT), a Philippine ship "deliberately collided with" a Chinese vessel near the shoal, known in Chinese as Xianbin, China Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
"China exercises indisputable sovereignty" in this zone, Liu said, condemning the "unprofessional and dangerous" conduct of the Philippine vessel.
However, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said it was the China Coast Guard vessel 5205 that "directly and intentionally rammed" the Philippines' 97-metre ship, BRP Teresa Magbanua.
The vessel has been anchored inside Sabina Shoal since April to assert Manila's claim over the area.
Tarriela said the ramming happened three times, hitting the BRP Teresa Magbanua's port bow, starboard quarter and port beam.
No crew members were injured during the incident but the ship's bridge wing and freeboard were damaged. A hole was also found.
"It is important for us to take note that this ramming happened despite... our unprovoked action and presence in Escoda Shoal," Tarriela told reporters, using the Filipino name for Sabina Shoal.
'Serious concern'
The collision was the fifth incident of Chinese maritime harassment this month, Tarriela said.
National Maritime Council Spokesperson Alexander Lopez said a report about the latest clash would be sent to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs for review and appropriate action.
"We take this with serious concern," Lopez told a news conference.
"We are there on a legal basis because that is ours, we don't need to ask for permission in our own territory. Let us be very clear about it," he said.
Philippine and Chinese vessels have collided near Sabina Shoal at least twice this month and analysts say Beijing is trying to move deeper into Manila's exclusive economic zone and normalise Chinese control of the area.
The discovery this year of piles of crushed coral at the shoal ignited suspicion in Manila that Beijing was planning to build another permanent base there, which would be its closest outpost to the Philippine archipelago.
Recent clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels have also taken place around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
A Filipino sailor lost a thumb in a clash there in June when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply a small garrison.
Sabina Shoal is also the rendezvous point for Philippine resupply missions to the garrison on Second Thomas Shoal. The repeated confrontations prompted Manila to brand Beijing the "biggest disruptor" to peace in Southeast Asia at a defence conference this month.
The South China Sea Dispute:
The South China Sea, located just south of mainland China, is bordered by Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. There has been a long history of territorial disputes in this region, but tensions have significantly escalated in recent years.
The 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea and the islands within it are subject to a range of claims from governments around the region. China claims almost all of it as its sovereign territory enclosed within its “nine-dash line,” but others maintain claims based on their exclusive economic zones, which extend 200 nautical miles from their shores.
Most of Beijing’s military buildup is concentrated along the Spratly and Paracel island chains, where sustained land reclamation saw reefs being destroyed first and then built on. From 2012 to 2021, Beijing steadily advanced its claim to 'historic rights' in most of the waters, seabed, and airspace of the South China Sea, using coercion and threats of force to do so. Beijing’s military construction sped up in 2014 as it quietly began massive dredging operations on seven reefs in the Spratlys.
By the late-2015 when the reclamation had been mostly completed, the area of the reclamation work was approx. 12.9 Km2. After completing reclamation, China militarises the features further, continuously developing various infrastructures and deploying military assets.
In November 2018, China reportedly installed what appears to be an information collection sensor in Bombay Reef in the Paracels without large-scale reclamation.
Beijing ripped up roughly 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of reef to create about 1,300 hectares of new land for artificial islands in the Spratlys, according to research from the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies released in 2022. The militarised islands enable Chinese vessels to patrol as far south as Indonesia and Malaysia.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled largely in favour of the Philippines in its dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal, stating that China’s actions violated international law. Despite the ruling, China rejected the tribunal’s authority and chose to ignore its decision.
Importance of the South China Sea:
The 1.3-million-square-mile waterway is vital to international trade, with an estimated third of global shipping worth trillions of dollars passing through each year. It’s also home to vast fertile fishing grounds upon which many lives and livelihoods depend.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, over 21 per cent of global trade, valued at $3.37 trillion, passes through these waters. According to the US Energy Information Agency, the waterway holds at least 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil. The South China Sea is home to hundreds of largely uninhabited islands and coral atolls and diverse wildlife at risk from climate change and marine pollution.
All countries bordering the sea have certain rights to access marine resources. An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is an area of the ocean extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) beyond a nation’s territorial sea (12 nautical miles or 12 miles from the coast).
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), within this area, a coastal nation has jurisdiction over both living and nonliving resources. Key disputed spots include the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, both locations where China has built military installations on disputed islands.
About Nine-Dash Line:
The nine-dash line represents China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea on Chinese maps. Originally an eleven-dash line, it was modified in 1953 by the Chinese government. This line encompasses about 90 per cent of the South China Sea, including areas like the Scarborough Shoal and the Second Thomas Shoal, despite being far from the Chinese mainland and close to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
China bases its claims on ‘historical maritime rights’, although it has not clearly defined the coordinates of the nine-dash line. These claims extend well beyond what is permitted under international maritime law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China has signed.
Major Maritime Skirmishes between China and other countries:
January 19, 1974: In 1974, the Chinese seized the Paracels from Vietnam, killing over 70 Vietnamese troops.
March 14, 1988: In 1988, Vietnam and China clashed in the Spratlys. The clash at Johnson Reef saw Chinese naval frigates sink two Vietnamese ships, leaving 64 sailors dead.
In 1995 PRC forces permanently occupied Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands. The reef was at this time a rock formation which was submerged at high tide. The Philippines and other ASEAN members united to protest the action.
1999: One of the most perilous flashpoints between the Chinese and the Philippines happened at a submerged reef called the Second Thomas Shoal, where in 1999 the Philippine Navy intentionally marooned a decrepit World War II ship to assert the country's territorial claims.
April 8, 2012: China took control of Scarborough Shoal within the Philippines’ EEZ after a months-long standoff involving paramilitary ships.
December 4, 2012: Vietnam accused China of sabotaging an oil and gas exploration vessel, in a block co-owned by Russia’s Gazprom.
January 22, 2013: The Philippines took China to a UN tribunal under the auspices of the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea, to challenge its claims.
May 1, 2014: China installed exploratory oil rigs in the Paracels in 2014 that sparked anti-China riots in Vietnam. The introduction by China of a drilling rig into waters near the Paracel Islands led to multiple collisions between Vietnamese and Chinese ships. China moved the rig into waters near the Paracel Islands - which Vietnam also claims. Chinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea.
June 06, 2019: Philippines accused a Chinese trawler of ramming a Filipino fishing boat with 22 people on board. The Filipinos were rescued by the Vietnamese.
On February 2, 2023: The Philippines said Chinese vessels have been shining lasers at Filipino boats to temporarily blind their crew. They also accuse the Chinese of dangerous manoeuvres by sailing too close or blocking the Filipinos' path.
In October 2023, Chinese ships twice collided with Philippine counterparts around Second Thomas. Another collision took place two months later, this time involving a Philippine ship carrying Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner. March 2024 saw a third collision, while a CCG water cannon shattered the windshield of another Philippine vessel. That incident injured four sailors including the admiral in command of the Philippine Navy’s Western Command.
June 17, 2024: At least eight Filipino naval personnel were injured, including one who reportedly lost a finger, after Chinese vessels prevented Philippine ships from carrying out a routine rotation and resupply (RoRe) mission to its troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
August 19, 2024: A pair of Philippine Coast Guard cutters suffered minor structural damage after collisions with their Chinese counterparts. Manila condemned China's "aggressive manoeuvres," with one of the Philippine ships being hit on its starboard and port sides during the incident.
August 25, 2024: The Philippines and China clashed in disputed waters of the South China Sea over what Manila said was a resupply mission for fishermen.
August 31, 2024: China and the Philippines have accused each other of ramming their ships in a disputed area of the South China Sea as their clashes over the vital waterway escalate. The incident occurred at the Sabina Shoal. The Philippine coastguard said a Chinese vessel had “intentionally rammed” one of Manila’s ships.
