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By Micah McCartney
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A China coast guard ship that was damaged in a collision with a Chinese navy destroyer earlier this month has been seen undergoing repairs at a military base, according to satellite photos supplied to Newsweek.
American space technology company Maxar said the pictures showed the same Chinese vessel—identified by the hull number 3104—that had sustained severe damage to its bow on August 11 during a pursuit of a Philippine patrol boat in contested waters in the South China Sea.
Why It Matters
Maxar's images confirmed for the first time that the Chinese ship had made it back to port since the collision near Scarborough Shoal, a Beijing-controlled reef within the Philippines' exclusive fishing waters.
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China asserts sovereignty over most of the busy South China Sea under its unilaterally imposed 10-dash line, a claim that is at odds with overlapping claims by Manila and several other neighbors. An arbitral tribunal in The Hague rejected the sweeping claims in a 2016 ruling Beijing maintains is invalid.
Observers have voiced concerns that Chinese forces could escalate tensions by taking more aggressive action to save face, putting it on a possible collision course with the United States over its decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry by email with a request for comment
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What To Know
The Maxar imagery, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, showed China coast guard 3104 beside a dry dock at the Yulin naval base in Sanya, capital of China's southernmost province of Hainan. The maintenance facility was constructed in 2020 and can accommodate the Chinese navy's aircraft carriers.
A new photograph, captured on Thursday and shared with Newsweek by Maxar, showed the stricken vessel inside the dry dock for the first time.
In the incident earlier this month, the 3104 slammed into the Chinese guided-missile destroyer Guilin while both ships were pursuing a smaller Philippine coast guard boat delivering supplies to fishermen around Scarborough Shoal.
The smaller craft outmaneuvered the two larger ships, causing the 1,500-ton China coast guard vessel—a converted Chinese navy corvette—to slam into the side of the 7,500-ton warship.
The forecastle of the Chinese coast guard vessel was severely damaged, and subsequent search-and-rescue operations pointed to the possibility that some crew members had been thrown overboard by the impact.
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Beijing and Manila exchange accusations of wrongdoing after the incident, but Chinese authorities have not acknowledged the collision, only criticizing the Philippines for alleged dangerous maneuvers.
The Philippines, meanwhile, awarded the crew of the 320-ton patrol boat BRP Suluan for completing its supply mission under trying circumstances.
Since the incident, China has ramped up its maritime presence in the Philippines exclusive economic zone, including around other hot spots in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
On Thursday, China's Defense Ministry warned the Philippines against "infringing provocations and inflammatory propaganda. It added: "Otherwise, it will bear all consequences."
The Expert Take
Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said in an op-ed in Singapore's CNA news site this month: "Rolling back what it is doing to the Philippines just because of this one collision would send the wrong signal to both domestic and international audiences about Beijing's resolve to assert its claims in the disputed waters.
"Manila needs to be vigilant toward the potential of Beijing ramping up its aggressive posture in the West Philippine Sea," Koh said, referring to the eastern portion of the South China Sea within the Philippines EEZ.
What's Next
It is unclear how long repairs to the Chinese ship will take. The Philippines is expected to continue supply runs to Scarborough Shoal and to publicize the movements of Chinese forces within its EEZ at every opportunity.
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