Philippines accused of colliding with Chinese ship

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — China's coast guard has accused the Philippines of intentionally colliding one of its vessels with a Chinese vessel near Sabina Reef early Monday, a new flashpoint in the increasingly worrying territorial disputes between the South China Sea littoral states.

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Two Philippine Coast Guard vessels entered waters near the shoal, ignored the Chinese Coast Guard's warning and “intentionally 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 did not initially comment on the encounter near the disputed atoll of the Spratly Islands, to which Vietnam and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

“The Philippine side bears full responsibility for the clash,” said spokesman Gan Yu. “We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its interference and provocation, otherwise it will have to bear all the consequences.”

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Gan added that China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as the Nansha Islands, including Sabina Shoal and the 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 waters near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, ignoring warnings from the Chinese coast guard. “The Chinese coast guard has taken control measures against the Philippine vessel in accordance with law and regulations,” he added.

The Sabina Reef, located about 140 kilometers west of the western Philippine island province of Palawan, has become a new flashpoint in the territorial dispute between China and the Philippines.

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The Philippine Coast Guard dispatched one of its main patrol vessels, the BRP Teresa Magbanuato Sabina in April after Filipino scientists discovered piles of crushed coral in the underwater shallows, raising suspicions that China was planning to build a structure in the atoll. The Chinese coast guard later dispatched a vessel to Sabina.

Sabina is located near the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Reef, which has been the scene of increasingly worrying confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels and escort vessels since last year.

China and the Philippines reached an agreement last month to prevent further confrontation if the Philippines transports new batches of guard troops as well as food and other supplies to Manila's outpost in the Second Thomas Reef, which is heavily guarded by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia vessels.

A week after the agreement, the Philippine Navy transported food and personnel to Second Thomas Reef without incident, raising hopes that tensions on the reef would eventually ease.

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