TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China's coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel early Monday near Sabina Shoal, a new flashpoint in the countries' increasingly alarming territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Two Philippine coast guard vessels entered the waters near the shoal, ignored a warning from the Chinese coast guard and “deliberately collided” with one of the Chinese boats at 3:24 a.m., a spokesman said in a statement on the Chinese coast guard's website.
Philippine authorities have not yet commented on the meeting near the disputed atoll in the Spratly Islands, where Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.
“The Philippine side is fully responsible for the clash,” said spokesman Gan Yu. “We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop infractions and provocations, otherwise it will bear all consequences that arise from it.”
Gan added that China claimed “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as Nansha Islands, including Sabina Shoal and its adjacent waters. The Chinese name for Sabina Shoal is Xianbin Reef.
In a separate statement, he said the Philippine vessel that was turned away from Sabina Shoal entered the waters near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal despite warnings from the Chinese coast guard. “The Chinese coast guard took control measures against the Philippine vessel in accordance with the law and regulations,” he added.
Sabina Shoal, located about 140 kilometers west of the Philippines' western island province of Palawan, has become a new flashpoint in the territorial disputes between China and the Philippines.
The Philippine Coast Guard sent one of its main patrol vessels, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, to Sabina in April after Philippine scientists discovered submerged piles of crushed coral in the shallows, raising suspicions that China was bracing to build a structure in the atoll. The Chinese Coast Guard later sent a ship to Sabina.
Sabina is located near the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, where alarming confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships and accompanying vessels have been occurring with increasing frequency since last year.
China and the Philippines reached an agreement last month to avoid further confrontations when the Philippines transports new troop surveillance, along with food and other supplies, to Manila's territorial outpost at Second Thomas Shoal, which is heavily guarded by the Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia vessels.
A week after the agreement was reached, the Philippine Navy transported food and personnel to the Second Thomas Shoal and no incidents were reported, raising hopes that tensions in the shoal would eventually subside.
___
Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines.
