bitterness increased in south china sea china alleges philippines ship collided with its ship

The Chinese coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately ramming one of its ships into a Chinese vessel early Monday near the Sabina Shoal, a new point of territorial dispute between the countries in the South China Sea. A spokesperson released a statement on the Chinese coast guard’s website saying two Filipino coast guard ships entered the waters near the Sabina Shoal, ignored warnings from the Chinese coast guard and “deliberately collided” with a Chinese boat at 3:24 a.m.

Spokesperson Gan Yu stressed that the Philippine side bears full responsibility for the collision and warned them, saying, “We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its violations and provocations, or bear all the consequences arising from it.” However, Philippine authorities have no immediate comment on the latest clash with China near this disputed area of ​​the Spratly Islands. Vietnam and Taiwan also claim the region. Gan Yu said, “The Philippine side bears full responsibility for this collision. We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop violating the territorial integrity and provocative actions, or bear all the serious consequences.” He said that China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire Spratly Islands, including Sabina Shoal and its adjacent waters.

The Spratly Islands are known as the Nansha Islands in China, while the Sabina Shoal is known as the Jianbin Reef. In another statement, Gan Yu alleged that the Philippine ship that was chased away from the Sabina Shoal had entered the waters near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, ignoring the warnings of the Chinese Coast Guard. He said, “The Chinese Coast Guard took retaliatory action against the Philippine ship in accordance with the rules and laws.” Sabina Shoal, located about 140 kilometers west of the Philippines’ western island province of Palawan, has become the new center of territorial dispute between China and the Philippines. The Philippine Coast Guard deployed one of its main patrol ships ‘BRP Teresa Magbanua’ to the Sabina Shoal in April.