Philippine vessel collides with Chinese coast guard boat in South China Sea

The China Coast Guard said a Philippine vessel collided with a Chinese coast guard boat in the waters near Xianbin Reef in the South China Sea on Friday, after ignoring repeated warnings from the Chinese side.

Jiang Lue, a spokesman for the China Coast Guard, said the Chinese coast guard vessel Sanzhou'ao was conducting rights protection and law enforcement operations in the waters near Xianbin Reef in China's Nansha Islands on Friday.

According to Jiang, Philippine vessel No 3015 ignored repeated warnings, deliberately changed course and suddenly accelerated across the bow of the Chinese vessel, resulting in a collision.

He said the Philippine vessel's actions endangered the safety of the Chinese coast guard vessel and its personnel, adding that the Chinese side acted in a "professional, standardized, reasonable, and lawful" manner and that responsibility for the incident rested entirely with the Philippine side.

Jiang urged the Philippines to immediately stop what he called infringement and provocative actions.

The China Coast Guard will continue rights protection and law enforcement operations in the waters under China's jurisdiction to safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, he said.