Philippine, Chinese ships collide near hotspot reef

AFP | Beijing, China

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Philippine and Chinese vessels collided near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea yesterday, with both sides accusing the other of being to blame for the incident.

Known in Chinese as the Ren’ai Reef, the shoal has seen an escalating number of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to the disputed area.

These have often taken place during Philippine attempts to supply a garrison of Filipino troops on a grounded navy vessel,  the Sierra Madre, which serves to assert Manila’s claims to the reef.

The Second Thomas Shoal lies about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometres from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

The Chinese coast guard said that a Philippine resupply ship in the area had “ignored many solemn warnings from the Chinese side”.

It “approached the... Chinese vessel in an unprofessional way, resulting in a collision”, Beijing said, accusing the ship of having “illegally broken into the sea near Ren’ai Reef”.

“The Chinese Coast Guard took control measures against the Philippine ship in accordance with the law,” it added.

But the Philippine armed forces called China’s version of events “misleading”, decrying “the illegal presence and actions of Chinese vessels within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone”.

Manila’s national task force on the West Philippine Sea later said the Chinese vessels had “engaged in dangerous manoeuvres, including ramming and towing”.

“Their actions put at risk the lives of our personnel and damaged our boats,” it said. Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, meanwhile, vowed to defend his country’s sovereignty, saying China’s “dangerous and reckless behaviour in the West Philippine Sea shall be resisted”.

“It should now be clear to the international community that China’s actions are the true obstacles to peace and stability in the South China Sea,” he added.