MANILA — China and the Philippines traded accusations on Tuesday after a violent confrontation at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea left a Philippine sailor injured, prompting both governments to summon each other's ambassadors as tensions escalated over one of Asia's most contested maritime flashpoints.
The Philippine military said the sailor was struck on the head with a wooden baton by personnel from the China Coast Guard during an encounter on Monday near the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded Philippine naval vessel that serves as Manila's outpost on the shoal. Philippine authorities said Chinese personnel also damaged one of the Philippine rubber boats involved in the incident.
China rejected the accusation, saying Philippine personnel initiated the confrontation by deploying two rubber boats that approached and rammed a Chinese patrol craft before attacking Chinese officers with oars and sticks. The China Coast Guard said its personnel responded in accordance with the law and later facilitated the evacuation of the injured Filipino sailor on humanitarian grounds.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan to protest what Manila described as another act of aggression against Philippine forces operating within the country's exclusive economic zone. Earlier on Tuesday, China's foreign ministry summoned Philippine Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing, accusing Manila of provoking the incident and misrepresenting the events.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines rejected China's account, calling it false and maintaining that its personnel acted professionally while carrying out lawful operations around the Sierra Madre. Philippine officials said video footage released by the military supported their version of events.
The confrontation occurred at Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines and Ren'ai Reef in China, where repeated encounters between Chinese and Philippine vessels have heightened regional security concerns. Manila maintains a small military detachment aboard the Sierra Madre, which was intentionally grounded in 1999 to reinforce its territorial claim. Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea despite overlapping claims by several Southeast Asian states and a 2016 international arbitral ruling that invalidated the legal basis for many of China's maritime claims, a decision Beijing rejects.
The latest incident comes as foreign ministers gather in Manila for regional meetings expected to address maritime security and negotiations on a long-delayed code of conduct between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations aimed at reducing the risk of conflict in the disputed waters.
