(Manila) A Philippine boat on a resupply mission was rammed by a Chinese coast guard vessel on Sunday, the Philippine coast guard said, a day after another confrontation in the disputed South China Sea.
A Chinese ship also “fired water cannon” at three Philippine ships participating in the resupply mission, causing “serious damage to the engine” of one of the boats, Jay Tarriela, a guard spokesperson, said on X -coasts for the West Philippine Sea.
The incident near Second Thomas, an atoll in the Spratly Islands, comes a day after another confrontation between Chinese coast guards who “impeded” three Philippine government boats resupplying Filipino fishermen using water cannons. near the Scarborough Shoal, a reef controlled by Beijing off the Philippine island of Luzon.
Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime disputes in the South China Sea through which billions of dollars of goods pass each year.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near its neighbors’ coasts, and has ignored an international court’s ruling in 2016 that the claim has no legal basis.
The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim several reefs and islets in this sea, some areas of which could contain rich oil reserves.