SEOUL, South Korea | Chinese and Philippine vessels collided Sunday near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, prompting an exchange of accusations between the two nations and a U.S. statement of support for Manila.
Manila accused a Chinese Coast Guard vessel of blocking and colliding with a Philippine supply ship heading toward a military base on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands chain. A Philippine patrol ship accompanying the supply vessel was also impacted by what it called a Chinese maritime militia boat.
No shots were fired, and no injuries were reported. But the Philippines called China’s actions “dangerous, irresponsible, and illegal,” and said the lives of crew members had been endangered.
China’s Maritime Safety Administration responded by insisting that the Philippines was fully responsible for the incident and that the supply ship had crossed the bows of the Chinese coast guard ships.
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay L. Carlson said in a post on X that the U.S. “condemns” China, calling the incident, “the latest disruption of a legal Philippines resupply mission … putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk.”
The supply ship was heading toward a “base” Manila operates on the shoal — the rusted hulk of a World War II-era transport ship, run around on the reef and manned by a contingent of Philippine marines.
In earlier incidents this year, Chinese vessels have sought to prevent access to the location and have laid barriers to bar fishermen access to nearby waters. China also is accused of deploying a “maritime militia” of fishing fleets to stake claims to fishing grounds.
Manila’s ramshackle base contrasts with the state-of-the-art facilities China has embedded in the South China Sea, a hotbed of territorial disputes between China and other Southeast Asian nations. Beijing has fashioned land-sea bases complete with runways, docks and missile defense systems.
A Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 found that China, which claims vast swaths of the South China Sea, had no legal claims to the waters it disputes with the Philippines. That has not prevented Beijing from asserting its sovereignty, deploying fishing fleets and expanding its footprint in the area.
A war of diplomatic influence is also underway in the region.
The Manila administration, headed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has reversed the pro-Chinese stance of predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who left office in 2022, and tilted toward the United States.
Earlier this year, Manila and Washington agreed to a rotational deployment agreement for U.S. troops in the Philippines.
U.S. troops can rotate in and out of Philippine bases near the West Philippine Sea, where Sunday’s collision occurred, and northern Luzon. The latter is near Taiwan and offers U.S. eyes on the Bashi Channel, a strategic waterway that Chinese warships would have to traverse if they ever sought to blockade Taiwan.
With Manila and Washington sharing a mutual defense treaty, there are concerns that U.S. forces could be drawn into clashes resulting from maritime disputes between China and the Philippines.
“We stand with our #FriendsPartnersAllies in protecting sovereignty and in support of a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacfiic,” Ms. Carlson’s X post declared.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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