AP and Xinhua
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 20, 2024, p. 22
Taipei – Several Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided early yesterday, damaging at least two vessels, in an episode that adds to the increasingly alarming clashes in the disputed South China Sea.
Both claimed blame for the collision near Sabina Atoll in the Spratly Islands, where Vietnam and Taiwan also claim sovereignty. No injuries were reported.
Two Philippine vessels entered waters near the atoll, ignored warnings from the Chinese coast guard and deliberately rammed one of our ships, the Chinese Coast Guard reported.
The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision.spokesman Gan Yu said. We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop the provocation, otherwise it will bear the consequences..
“Beijing firmly opposes the intrusion of Philippine vessels into the waters adjacent to Xianbin Jiao, and will continue to take measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” said Mao Ning, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the Philippine National Security Council, accused the Chinese coast guard of misrepresentation.
Videos and photographs, including some taken by U.S. television journalists aboard one of the Philippine vessels, showed that Chinese ships caused the collisions, Malaya said at a briefing in Manila.
For its part, the Philippine National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said the two coast guard vessels, the BRP Bagacay and the BRP Cape Deception, They found aggressive and illegitimate maneuvers of Chinese vessels as they headed to the nearby islands of Patag and Lawak.
Sabina Atoll, which is about 140 kilometres west of the island province of Palawan in the western Philippines, is occupied by Manila and has become a new flashpoint in territorial disputes between the two governments.
