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By Micah McCartney
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A Chinese coast guard and navy destroyer collided during a dramatic confrontation with Philippine government forces in the South China Sea.
Footage released by Manila captured the accident, which severely damaged the coast guard cutter.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
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Why it Matters
The clash occurred near Scarborough Shoal. The rich fishing ground lies in the Philippines' maritime zone and is one of the most hotly contested features in a territorial dispute that last year led to the hospitalization of several Philippine sailors.
China asserts sovereignty over most of the busy South China Sea, putting it at odds with overlapping claims by Manila and several other neighbors. A Hague-based arbitral tribunal rejected these sweeping claims in a 2016 ruling Beijing says is invalid.
What To Know
The Chinese ships had been attempting to block a joint Philippine Coast Guard–fisheries bureau mission to deliver supplies to local fishermen near Scarborough Shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc and in China as Huangyan Island.
The collision occurred 10.5 nautical miles (12 miles) east of the shoal as Chinese Coast Guard vessel CCG 3104 and guided-missile destroyer Guilin sought to drive away the much smaller Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel BRP Suluan.
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Video shows CCG 3104 in hot pursuit, deploying its water cannons, before turning starboard, right into the oncoming 7,500-ton destroyer, leaving the bow of the smaller ship visibly crumpled and twisted.
"CCG 3104, which was chasing the BRP Suluan at high speed, performed a risky maneuver from the Philippine Coast Guard vessel's starboard quarter, leading to the impact with the People's Liberation Army Navy warship," Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
"This resulted in substantial damage to the CCG vessel's forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy."
Tarriela said that immediately following the collision, the Philippines side offered "assistance with man-overboard recovery and medical aid for any injured CCG crew members."
The other Philippine coast guard ship involved in the mission, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, escorted the dozens of Filipino fishermen waiting nearby to a secure location so the supplies could be distributed, the official added.
The Chinese coast guard, in its own statement, accused the Philippine ships of intruding "under the pretext of delivering supplies to fishing boats."
"The China coast guard, in accordance with the law, took necessary measures to drive them away, including tracking and monitoring from the outside, blocking, and controlling," the agency added, without mentioning the collision.
What People Are Saying
Brent Sadler, a retired U.S. Navy captain and senior research fellow with The Heritage Foundation, on X: "What comes next will be important as to how tensions play out... there was already an unusual flotilla of Chinese ships headed to Philippine islands to the north of Luzon (south of Taiwan)."
Beijing-based think tank the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, in a July report: "The South China Sea dispute is not simply a test of maritime law—but of whether international law can evolve beyond its colonial and Eurocentric foundations to accommodate a genuinely pluralistic global order."
What Happens Next
It's unusual for a Chinese warship to interact directly with Philippine forces, and Guilin's actions are being viewed by analysts as an escalation.
It remains to be seen whether the incident marks the beginning of heavier PLAN involvement in the dispute or whether China will escalate further.
The Philippines is expected to continue challenging Chinese maritime incursions into its exclusive economic zone, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reiterating last week his pledge not to yield "one square inch" of Philippine-claimed waters.
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