China’s coastguard said Monday that it took necessary measures to expel Philippine vessels from a contested feature in the South China Sea, while Manila claimed two Chinese vessels collided during the operation, leaving one vessel heavily damaged.
Gan Yu, a Chinese coastguard spokesperson, said in a statement that the Chinese coastguard forced several Philippine coastguard and government vessels away after they “ignored repeated warnings from the Chinese side and insistently intruded into the waterway” near Scarborough Shoal.
The Chinese side said it had taken “necessary” measures including tracking, monitoring, intercepting and blocking, describing them as “professional, standardised, legitimate and legal”.
“Huangyan Island is an inherent part of China’s territory,” Gan said, referring to the Chinese name for the shoal, adding that the coastguard would continue law enforcement activities “to safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests”.
In videos posted by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday morning, a Chinese vessel was seen deploying a water cannon against smaller Philippine ships. The video showed a Chinese coastguard vessel with the hull number 3104 colliding with a larger vessel numbered 164, followed by a loud bang.
In its statement, the Philippine Coast Guard said a smaller Chinese coastguard vessel and a larger PLA Navy ship had collided around 10 nautical miles (18.5km) east of the shoal, resulting in substantial damage to the forward portion, or forecastle, of the coastguard ship.
The Chinese statement made no mention of a collision.
The Philippine coastguard said that it “immediately offered support, including assistance with man-overboard recovery and medical aid for any injured … crew members”, according to its statement.
Scarborough Shoal – known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines – is among the most contested maritime features in the South China Sea and has seen an increasing number of clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels.
The triangular-shaped feature, consisting of a handful of rocks and reefs, falls within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, while China has claimed it as part of the Zhongsha Islands, taking de facto control of it in 2012.
The area has abundant marine resources and has long served as a traditional fishing ground for Chinese, Philippine and Vietnamese crews.
Since 2022, tensions and confrontations over Scarborough Shoal and other contested features in the South China Sea have escalated and become increasingly frequent.
Monday’s incident took place amid Manila’s “Kadiwa Operation”, which was launched in May to encourage more Filipinos to fish in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s term for its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
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