The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has said that one of its boats suffered minor damage during a resupply mission to the troops on a remote outpost in South China Sea.
PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela said that the incident took place this morning near Second Thomas Shoal where a small group of sailors have been living on board the Sierra Madre warship since it was grounded nearly 25 years ago.
The PCG released videos on X showing a Chinese ship cutting across the bow of the Philippine resupply ship
“The PCG vessels faced dangerous manoeuvres and blocking from Chinese Coast Guard vessels and Chinese Maritime Militia,” Tarriela wrote on X.
“Their reckless and illegal actions led to a collision between MRRV-4407 and China Coast Guard 21555 that resulted in minor structural damage to the PCG vessel.”
The Chinese coast guard said that it took measures against Philippine ships in the area, accusing them of entering the waters “illegally”.
The incident comes a day after Philippine foreign minister Enrique Manalo called on China to stop harassing the Philippines and defended his country’s strategy to publicise Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
Philippines president Ferdinand R Marcos Jr, while appearing at an event hosted by an Australian think tank on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Melbourne said, “We shall never surrender even a square inch of our territory in our maritime jurisdiction.”
Tensions in the South China Sea have risen over the past year with Manila accusing Beijing of taking dangerous actions against its boats and lodging multiple diplomatic protests.
China has claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea and over the past 20 years, it has systematically claimed control of more areas in the region by reinforcing new maps with concrete signs of its claim – building on rocks and islets and expanding its military facilities on these man-made outposts.
