Philippine Coast Guard: Ship damaged in collision with Chinese vessel
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The Philippine Coast Guard claims that one of its ships suffered damage after colliding with a China Coast Guard vessel during a resupply mission.
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Members of the Philippine Coast Guard patrol Manila Bay. (Philippine Coast Guard)
The Philippine Coast Guard reported that one of its vessels sustained damage following a collision with a China Coast Guard ship.
The incident occurred during a resupply mission to deliver provisions to Filipino troops stationed at a remote outpost in the South China Sea, as per the Coast Guard.
In a post on X, Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela claimed that the Chinese coast guard and other vessels undertook "dangerous maneuvers and blocking," leading to a collision that resulted in "minor structural damage to the PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) vessel."
The BRP Sindangan and a sibling vessel were reportedly sent "to support" in a military rotation and resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino troops are positioned on a grounded Philippine navy ship.
China's coast guard stated that it "took control measures" in response to what it deemed as the "illegal intrusion" of Philippine ships in the waters around Ren'ai Reef in China's Nansha Islands, using the Chinese names for the shoal and the Spratly Islands.
This comes just one day after Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo urged China to cease its "harassment", defending Manila's approach of publicizing Chinese actions in the South China Sea. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos was equally direct during an appearance later on Monday at an event hosted by an Australian think tank.
"We shall never surrender even a square inch of our territory and our maritime jurisdiction," he said on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Melbourne.
Dive deeper
The Philippines claimed, on February 25, that the Chinese Coast Guard tried to obstruct a Filipino government ship from delivering supplies to fishermen, marking the second such reported incident near a contested reef this month.
The BRP Datu Sanday was supplying fuel to fishermen near the Scarborough Shoal when it was "harassed" by a China Coast Guard vessel and three other Chinese ships on February 22, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
Beijing and Manila have been entangled in tensions resulting from the South China Sea dispute, but the issue has grown since the Philippines started conducting increased military exercises in the South China Sea in coordination with the United States.
Sixty percent of maritime trade passes through Asia, with the South China Sea carrying an estimated one-third of global shipping. Most recently, US and Western-affiliated naval ships have been crossing the area as part of the ongoing provocations against China.
