The Armed Forces of the Philippines accused China's coast guard of "dangerous blocking maneuvers" that "caused it to collide with "indigenous resupply boat Unaiza May 2", which was contracted to the Philippines navy on a supply run. Photo: Supplied/ Armed Forces of the Philippines
The Philippines has accused China's coast guard of colliding with a Filipino supply boat in the South China Sea
The Filipino vessel was on its way to a Philippine outpost on Sunday, in the Second Thomas Shoal, where tensions escalated in recent weeks.
Manila said Beijing's "dangerous blocking manoeuvres" endangered the safety of the Filipino crew.
However, China said the Philippines "deliberately stirred up trouble".
Chinese and Philippine ships had routinely played cat-and-mouse around the shoal as a handful of Filipino troops on the outpost, a marooned and crumbling navy ship, require monthly rations.
Chinese coast guard ships (left and right) corral a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine navy to deliver supplies to Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre in the disputed South China Sea, on 22 August, 2023. Photo: AFP/ Ted Aljibe
But Filipino authorities said China had grown more aggressive since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June 2022 and sought closer military ties with Washington, Beijing's chief rival for influence in the resource-rich and strategic sea.
In a second incident also near Second Thomas Shoal on Sunday, Filipino authorities said a Chinese militia vessel bumped into a Philippine coast guard ship.
A second supply ship was able to reach the Philippine outpost in the shoal, Manila said.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys where the Second Thomas Shoal is located. Its claims to the sea overlap with claims by other countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, an international arbitration court at The Hague ruled that China's vast sea claims had no basis, acting on a case brought forth by Manila. Beijing refused to recognise it.
- This story was originally published by BBC.
A BBC map of the South China Sea, showing the disputed areas. Photo: BBC/ Data from UNCLOS, CIA