Chinese Coast Guard personnel aboard over eight motorboats repeatedly rammed two Philippine navy inflatable boats in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The Chinese personnel boarded the Philippine vessels and damaged them using machetes, knives, and hammers, escalating a fresh round of confrontation between the two countries.
According to Filipino officials, the Chinese personnel attacked the boats to prevent the Philippine navy troops from transferring essential supplies, including food, firearms, and other necessities, to Filipino troops stationed on the Second Thomas Shoal, a territory claimed by Beijing.
During the confrontation, the Chinese coast guard personnel violently attached ropes to tow the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) while threatening to injure an AFP soldier with a pickaxe. They also used blaring sirens to create chaos, disrupt communication, and divert the attention of AFP troops, exacerbating the already hostile and dangerous situation.
After a series of arguments and repeated collisions, Chinese coast guard personnel boarded the Philippine navy vessels and seized eight M4 rifles, navigation equipment, and other supplies, according to two Filipino security officials who spoke to The Associated Press. The clash resulted in injuries to several Filipino navy personnel, including one who lost his right thumb.
The Chinese coast guard launched a brutal assault on AFP personnel aboard the RHIB, aggressively ramming the boat and brandishing bladed weapons, explicitly threatening harm to AFP troops. Videos posted by the Philippine military show Chinese troops pointing knives at Filipino navy personnel and their ships surrounding two Philippine navy supply boats. Sirens blared as both sides yelled at each other. Chinese personnel were seen smashing the Filipino boats with poles and grabbing them with what appeared to be a bag attached to a stick.
General Romeo Brawner Jr., head of the Philippine armed forces, condemned the actions of the Chinese troops, likening them to "pirates," and demanded the return of the rifles and equipment taken during the skirmish.Â
"We are demanding that the Chinese return our rifles and our equipment, and we are also demanding that they pay for the damage they caused," Brawner Jr. said at a press conference in Palawan province, where he awarded a medal to an injured navy officer as a mark of bravery. "They boarded our boats illegally and seized our equipment. They’re now like pirates with these kinds of actions," he added.
Brawner Jr. praised the resilience shown by the Filipino navy troops despite being outnumbered, noting that they resisted the Chinese personnel, who were armed with knives and machetes, with "bare hands" and managed to push them back. "The Chinese Coast Guard personnel had bladed weapons and our personnel fought with bare hands. We were outnumbered and their weapons were unexpected, but our personnel fought with everything that they had," he wrote in a Facebook statement on Wednesday.
The Philippine Foreign Ministry issued a statement denouncing the illegal and aggressive actions of the Chinese authorities, which resulted in injuries to personnel and damage to vessels. In response to the incident, China blamed the Philippines for the skirmish, asserting that Filipino navy troops "trespassed" into the shoal despite repeated warnings from the Chinese Coast Guard.Â
"This is the direct cause of the incident. The Chinese coast guard at the scene has taken professional law-enforcement measures with restraint aimed at stopping the illegal supply mission by the Philippine vessels, and no direct measures were taken against the Philippine personnel," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press briefing in Beijing.
The United States, which has a contentious relationship with China, stated its obligation to defend the Philippines, Washington's ally, in light of the attack on the Philippine naval boats. This incident is a grim reminder of the Galwan Valley clashes of 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
Second Thomas Shoal, also known as Ayungin Shoal, is a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, claimed entirely by China. Other countries, including Taiwan and Vietnam, also have territorial claims in the busy waterway. The Philippine Navy maintains a presence on the Second Thomas Shoal by stationing less than a dozen marine personnel on the 100-meter-long World War II-era Philippine Navy landing craft 'Sierra Madre,' which was deliberately run aground at the atoll in 1999 in response to China's reclamation of Mischief Reef. The Philippines claims that the atoll is part of its continental shelf, while parts of the Spratly group of islands, where the Second Thomas Shoal lies, are claimed by China, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
