South China Sea, East China Sea Tensions Escalate: China-Philippines-Japan Ships Clash!

The Philippines reported on the 9th that a Chinese coast guard vessel fired a water cannon at a national fisheries vessel near Scarborough Shoal (Chinese name Huangyan Island) in the South China Sea. / AP Yonhap News

There have been collisions at sea between China, the Philippines, and Japan.

The Chinese Coast Guard reported on the 10th that Philippine Coast Guard vessels and others had intruded the waters near the Second Thomas Shoal (Chinese name: Lunaijiao, Philippine name: Ayungin) in the Spratly Islands (Chinese name: Nansha, Philippine name: Kalayaan) without China’s approval.

According to China, the Philippine vessel ‘Unaija Mei’ No. 1 ignored warnings and changed direction in violation of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, colliding with China’s Coast Guard vessel 21556 from the side. China claimed that the responsibility lies within the hands of the Philippines.

The two sides had also collided in the South China Sea the day before. The Philippines reported that the day before, a Chinese coast guard vessel had fired a water cannon towards a national fisheries vessel near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, damaging the vessel’s communication and navigation equipment.

China claims about 90% of the area within the U-shaped line (nine-dash line) in the South China Sea as its territorial waters, but the Philippines has filed a lawsuit with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which ruled in 2016 that China’s territorial claims have no basis in international law.

China also revealed that it had clashed with Japan the day before near the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name: Diaoyu Islands). The Chinese coast guard spokesman said, “Japanese fishing vessel Tsurumaru and several patrol vessels illegally entered the Diaoyu territorial waters,” and “Chinese coast guard vessels took necessary control measures and issued warnings and eviction orders by the law.”

The Senkaku Islands are about 112 miles from Ishigaki Island in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture and about 205 miles from mainland China. China and Japan also had a dispute in these waters on the 28th of last month. China is reinforcing its territorial claims by frequently announcing the news of its coast guard vessels patrolling around the Senkaku Islands.