MANILA, The Philippines: A tense confrontation ensued during which some Filipino navy personnel were injured after Chinese forces seized two Philippine rubber boats delivering food and other supplies to a military outpost in a disputed South China Sea shoal, Philippine security officials said this week.
The United States warned on June 18 that it would defend the Philippines, a treaty ally, a day after the hours-long hostilities in Second Thomas Shoal. In a territorial standoff, a small Philippine navy contingent aboard a long-grounded warship occupies the shoal, closely monitored by China’s coast guard and navy.
There is fear that territorial disputes in the South China Sea could escalate and pit the U.S. and China in a larger conflict. China and the Philippines blamed each other for the latest hostilities.
A Philippine government task force condemned what it said were “dangerous maneuvers, including ramming and towing,” which disrupted an effort to transport food, water, and other supplies to the Filipinos manning the territorial outpost on the grounded ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, at the shoal.
Two Philippine security officials who knew of the mission at the shoal separately told The Associated Press that two rubber boats manned by Filipino navy personnel had approached the BRP Sierra Madre at the shoal to deliver fresh supplies when several Chinese coast guard personnel on speedboats arrived to disrupt the mission, sparking a scuffle and collisions.
At least eight of the Filipinos were injured, including one who lost a thumb, in the scuffle, said one of the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were under orders not to discuss the high-seas confrontation publicly.
One of two Philippine Coast Guard patrol ships waiting at a distance to back up the navy’s supply mission rescued five of the injured sailors. Chinese coast guard personnel towed the two rubber supply boats and then abandoned them after damaging them and emptying them of their contents, including some rifles. The Filipino navy later recovered them.
AP quoted the Chinese coast guard as saying the Philippines “is entirely responsible for this.” It said a Philippine vessel “ignored China’s repeated solemn warnings and dangerously approached a Chinese vessel in normal navigation in an unprofessional manner, resulting in a collision.”
A new Chinese law from June 15 authorizes its coast guard to seize foreign ships entering Chinese waters illegally and detain foreign crews for up to 60 days.
