The Philippines and China have accused each other of being behind incidents that occurred near a disputed atoll.
The Philippines and China are accusing each other of two collisions between Chinese ships and Philippine boats in the disputed South China Sea. The incidents occurred in the Spratlys, about 25 kilometers from the Second Thomas Shoal Atoll, where the Philippine navy is stationed and where Beijing deploys ships to assert its claims to the area. Beijing in fact claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite the rival claims of the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, ignoring a 2016 international judgment against it. China has declared that “Responsibility for Sunday’s incidents lies squarely with the Philippines.”
“The dangerous blocking maneuvers of Chinese Coast Guard Vessel 5203 caused it to collide with the supply boat (…) contracted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” a Philippine government task force said. Beijing, for its part, affirmed that “slight collision” occurred after the supply boat ignored “multiple warnings and deliberately crossed law enforcement in an unprofessional and dangerous manner”state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the Foreign Ministry.
In another incident, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting the resupply mission was “bumped into” by what the task force described as a “Chinese maritime militia ship”. Beijing, however, accused the Philippine boat of having “deliberately” caused a collision by reversing in a manner “premeditated” towards a Chinese fishing vessel.
The challenge of supplying troops on an isolated atoll
In 1999, the Philippines deliberately ran a military boat, the BRP Sierra Madre, aground on the atoll, with the aim of making it an outpost and asserting its claims to sovereignty against China. The ship has since been a source of tension between Beijing and Manila. The Philippine Marines on board depend on resupply missions to survive.
In its statement, Manila said a second supply ship was able to reach the stranded BRP Sierra Madre and “successfully resupply our troops and personnel stationed there.”
As Beijing increasingly asserts its sovereignty over these waters, tensions between Manila and Beijing escalated in August, when Chinese coast guard ships used water cannons against a Philippine resupply mission on the reef, preventing one of the boats from delivering its cargo.