Manila and Beijing have an extended historical past of maritime incidents within the contested South China Sea.
The Philippines and China have traded accusations over a collision of their vessels close to a disputed shoal within the South China Sea as tensions over claims within the important waterway escalate.
The shoal is a part of what are internationally often known as the Spratly Islands.
China’s coastguard mentioned in an announcement on Sunday that two Philippine vessels, ignoring repeated warnings, had “illegally entered the waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef in the Nansha Islands without the approval of the Chinese government”.
It mentioned the Unaizah Mae 1 “made an unprofessional and dangerous sudden turn, intentionally ramming into China Coast Guard vessel 21556”. It mentioned the Philippine aspect bore full duty.
Spokesperson Gan Yu additionally known as on the Philippines to cease its “provocative acts”, saying Beijing would proceed to hold out “law-enforcement activities” in its waters.
In the meantime, the Philippine coastguard accused China of firing water cannons and ramming resupply vessels and a coast guard ship, inflicting “serious engine damage” to 1.
Spokesperson Jay Tarriela mentioned in an announcement on the social media platform X that the “M/L Kalayaan suffered serious engine damage. Contrary to China Coast Guard disinformation, UM1 rammed by CCG vessel”.
Assertion of the Nationwide Activity Power-West Philippine Sea
December 10, 2023, Manila, PhilippinesAt present, 10 December 2023, China Coast Guard (CCG) and Chinese language Maritime Militia (CMM) vessels harassed, blocked, and executed harmful maneuvers on Philippine civilian provide vessels,… pic.twitter.com/NF66BqVPUM
— Jay Tarriela (@jaytaryela) December 10, 2023
Hours earlier than Sunday’s incident, round 200 Philippine fishermen, youth leaders and civil society teams had joined a Christmas convoy to the world to ship donations.
However the convoy’s organiser mentioned the fishing boats determined to tug out as they “erred on the side of caution” because of the presence of Chinese language boats.
The Philippines and China have an extended historical past of maritime incidents within the contested South China Sea, by means of which greater than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce passes yearly.
Sunday’s incident comes a day after Manila accused Beijing of firing water cannon at a civilian-operated authorities fishing vessel, a transfer Beijing known as reliable “control measures”.
In accordance with Chinese language state media, Beijing additionally mentioned that it took “control measures” towards the three Philippine vessels within the South China Sea that it claimed had intruded into waters close to Scarborough Shoal on Saturday.
China claims virtually the whole South China Sea, together with components claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. However the Everlasting Court docket of Arbitration in The Hague in 2016 mentioned China’s claims had no authorized foundation.
