A Chinese warship collided with one of its own coast guard vessels while chasing Philippine boats earlier this week in the highly contested South China Sea, in the latest such incident to underscore growing volatility in one of the world’s most strategically vital waterways.
Dramatic footage released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the moment the collision took place, leaving one of the Chinese vessels missing a prominent part of its bow.
Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard said the incident occurred on Monday while personnel were distributing aid to Filipino fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, approximately 140 miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon.
Tarriela said a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel was chasing Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Suluan at “high speed” when the incident occurred.
“Philippine vessels and fishermen encountered hazardous maneuvers and blocking actions from other vessels in the vicinity,” Tarriela said, adding one of the Philippine boats was targeted with a water cannon but avoided getting hit.
He added that the Chinese ship then “performed a risky maneuver” which inflicted “substantial damage” to the China Coast Guard vessel’s forecastle, rendering the ship “unseaworthy.”
Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday showed People’s Liberation Army Navy ship with hull number 164 , a Type 052D guided-missile destroyer, careening into the China Coast Guard vessel 3104, as both chased the much smaller BRP Suluan Philippine patrol vessel.
At least three China Coast Guard personnel can be seen on the bow of CCG 3104 at the time of impact. The Philippine Coast Guard said it immediately offered support, including assistance with man-overboard recovery and medical aid for any injured CCG crew members, according to Tarriela.
China has said a confrontation with Philippine vessels took place but has not, so far, confirmed a collision between its two vessels.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu said in a statement that the “Philippines sent multiple coast guard and government vessels, under the pretext of delivering supplies to fishing boats, to forcibly intrude into waters” near Huangyan Dao, the name China uses for the Scarborough Shoal.
Gan said the China Coast Guard “took all necessary measures, including tracking, monitoring, blocking, and controlling, to drive the Philippine vessels away.”
“On-site operations were conducted in a professional, standard, and lawful manner,” Gan said, but he did not mention the high-stakes crash in open waters.
The South China Sea remains a flashpoint for territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines and several other nations.
It is a vital maritime trade corridor with an estimated third of global shipping, worth trillions of dollars, passing through each year, and home to fertile fishing grounds upon which many livelihoods depend on.
Confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in particular have spiked in recent years, fueling fears that a major accident could spiral into a conflict between the two. The Philippines is a US treaty ally while China, which has been rapidly growing its naval fleet, is the key US rival in the region.
Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal as well as small islands and atolls in the South China Sea.
In 2012, China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, and has since restricted access to Filipino fishermen there. A ruling by an international arbitration court four years later found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid but Beijing has refused to abide by it.
Monday’s confrontation marks the latest in a series of tense and dangerous incidents in recent years, as both Beijing and Manila intensify efforts to assert sovereignty over the contested reefs and maritime features.
In April, China and the Philippines each unfurled their national flags on Sandy Cay, a string of three uninhabited sandbars which lie near a Philippine military outpost in the disputed Spratly Islands.
In June 2024, the Philippines accused China’s Coast Guard of launching a “brutal assault” with bladed weapons during a South China Sea clash near the Second Thomas Shoal, also near the contested Spratly Islands.
Footage released by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard officers brandishing an axe and other bladed or pointed tools at the Filipino soldiers and slashing their rubber boat, in what Manila called “a brazen act of aggression.” One Philippine Navy serviceman lost his right thumb when the Chinese Coast Guard vessel rammed into a smaller Philippine boat.
The frequent aggressive encounters underscore the growing volatility in the vast 1.3-million-square-mile waterway, where Beijing has spent years turning islands and reefs into military bases and airstrips.
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