A damaged Chinese coast guard ship, right, is seen beside a Chinese navy vessel after they collided while chasing a Philippine fisheries boat in the South China Sea on Aug. 11, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military on Tuesday blamed China for the collision of two Chinese navy and coast guard ships while trying to drive the Philippine coast guard and fishermen from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. It said it would assess how to respond to Beijing’s use of military force against civilians.

Philippine authorities said Monday’s accidental collision resulted in visible heavy damages to the Chinese coast guard and navy ships and possible injuries.

The confrontation near the Scarborough Shoal was the latest flare-up of the long-simmering territorial standoff in the contested waters, a long-feared flashpoint in Asia.

The United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, on Tuesday condemned the “latest reckless action by China directed against a Philippine vessel.”

The Chinese coast guard on Monday blamed Philippine vessels for the confrontation and said it was forced to expel the vessels after they intruded into “China’s inherent territory” despite warnings. It did not mention the collision or possible casualties.

Video footage made public by the Philippine coast guard shows a Chinese navy ship with the bow number 164 slamming into the bow of a Chinese coast guard ship while both try to block and force a Philippine patrol ship, the BRP Suluan, away from Scarborough. The Chinese coast guard ship can be seen using its water cannon.

The video shows the heavily shattered bow of the Chinese coast guard ship, where at least two Chinese personnel were seen standing shortly before the crash. The Chinese navy ship sustained deep dents and what appeared to be linear cuts on its hull.

BRP Suluan offered medical help by two-way radio to the Chinese coast guard, fearing the collision may have caused injuries to its personnel, but the Philippine coast guard said it received no response.

Gan Yu, a spokesperson for the Chinese coast guard in Beijing, said Monday that the Philippine vessels intruded into Chinese territorial waters off the shoal, prompting its forces to take “necessary measures, including monitoring, forcing, intercepting and controlling the Philippine vessels to expel them.”

The chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., told reporters in Manila that the video footage clearly showed that the Chinese navy ship maneuvered to ram the BRP Suluan, which had to move to avoid being hit. As a result, the Chinese navy ship instead hit the Chinese coast guard ship, which was also closely chasing the Philippine vessel, Brawner said.

“China’s aggressive actions were very clear in this incident,” Brawner said. “They were at fault because of their aggressive maneuvers. We were there to protect Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal. That was our only objective because that’s our traditional fishing ground.”

Asked if China’s deployment of military force against civilians was a change in tactic, Brawner said it was. He said the Philippine military would assess how to respond in consultation with the coast guard and would seek guidance from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Now they are deploying their PLA navy, and this is one symbol of China’s aggressiveness,” he said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army. “We’ll discuss possible steps and our future tactics to counter China’s actions to stop us from getting access (to Scarborough).”

Chinese officials did not immediately comment on Brawner’s statement, but Gan Yu insisted its forces would be “resolutely safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

Associated Press journalist Huizhong Wu contributed to this report.

The latest dangerous incident involving Chinese ships in the South China Sea took place on Monday, when two Chinese ships collided while trying to chase a Philippine patrol boat away from the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

A video released by Philippine officials, taken from the stern of the Filipino patrol boat BRP Suluan, showed a Chinese Coast Guard vessel aggressively and dangerously firing a water cannon while pursuing the smaller Filipino craft at high speed.

The Chinese Coast Guard vessel then slammed into an even bigger People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ship that was maneuvering behind the Suluan:

Both of the Chinese ships were visibly damaged in the collision. The Filipino patrol boat, having observed Chinese personnel working on the deck of the Coast Guard ship before the collision, circled around to offer assistance, but the Chinese did not respond.

The Philippine Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday the actions of the Chinese ships “not only posed a grave danger to Philippine personnel and vessels, but also resulted in the unfortunate collision between the two Chinese vessels.”

“Yesterday’s incident demonstrates the importance of adhering to international maritime rules,” said the Philippine Foreign Ministry.

Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., chairman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the PLAN ship was clearly attempting to ram the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship during the incident.

Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad described it as a “pincer move,” in which the PCG ship was supposed to be trapped in the middle.

“It’s a good thing our Coast Guard was able to avoid the PLA Navy and the Chinese Coast Guard. The two Chinese vessels collided,” Brawner said.

Brawner said this was the first documented instance of the PLAN attempting such a dangerous maneuver against PCG ships, but the Chinese Coast Guard has done so in the past. He called the escalation “a symbol of China’s aggressiveness,” noting that a 2012 deconfliction agreement required both China and the Philippines to keep their warships away from the Scarborough Shoal.

“We followed the agreement. They did not follow. So, it’s really a violation of the agreement that we had in 2012. We keep the moral high ground. That’s the order of our President. And we do not do aggressive tactics,” he said.

“They claim that we are causing trouble in the West Philippine Sea, but we clearly saw yesterday the opposite, because they continue to claim Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal as their own territory,” he said, using the Filipino name for the shoal.

“We have contingencies. If our Coast Guard is attacked by the PLA Navy, we have actions to do. We follow the rules of engagement. And according to the rules of engagement, we have the right to defend ourselves,” he added.

Both Brawner and Trinidad stressed that Philippine forces do not wish to escalate confrontations around the shoal, but eventually they could be forced to defend themselves. Asked if this could trigger mutual defense treaties with the United States, Brawner said his government might ask for “joint sails” with allied navies around the shoal, to warn Beijing against dangerous and provocative actions. The Philippine and Indian navies recently conducted a joint sail in the South China Sea.

The Scarborough Shoal is only 125 nautical miles from the main Philippine island of Luzon, and has long been treasured as a fishing ground by Filipino fishermen, but China effectively seized control of the feature by force in 2012. China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea have been rejected by international tribunals, so Beijing simply occupied the contested waters with militarized vessels and began chasing the Filipinos away.

The PCG patrol boat Suluan was in the area on Monday to deliver fuel and supplies to Filipino fishermen. The Philippine Navy also has warships in the area, but they maintain a circumspect distance from the Scarborough Shoal to honor the 2012 deconfliction agreement.

Brawner suggested the Philippine Navy might feel obliged to move its ships closer to the shoal, to ensure the safety of fishermen and supply vessels, while Trinidad suggested China’s clumsy harassment efforts were not enough of a threat to justify action from the Navy, given how the Suluan was able to evade both Chinese Coast Guard and PLAN vessels.

“The Chief of Staff has been very clear that in all operations in the West Philippine Sea to include Bajo De Masinloc, the use of force for mission accomplishment is not authorized without infringing on the universal right of self-defense, defense of one’s unit or defense of others,” Trinidad said.

China blandly insisted its ships acted lawfully and blamed the Philippines for heightened tensions around the Scarborough Shoal. Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu carefully avoided mentioning the embarrassing collision between Chinese ships on Monday.

“The Philippines sent multiple coast guard and government vessels, under the pretext of delivering supplies to fishing boats, to forcibly intrude into waters near China’s Huangyan Dao, despite repeated dissuasion and warnings from the Chinese side,” Yu claimed, using China’s name for the Scarborough Shoal.

“Huangyan Island is an inherent part of China’s territory. The China Coast Guard will continue to carry out rights-protection law enforcement activities in the waters of Huangyan Dao in accordance with the law, and will resolutely safeguard China’s national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” he insisted.

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday harangued Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for demanding a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea that would preclude China’s aggressive activities, and for insisting Manila stands ready to defend its “territorial integrity and sovereignty” in the region.

“By openly promoting COC consultations, Marcos aims to achieve several objectives: to project an ostensible commitment to peace and stability in the South China Sea while masking and legitimizing Manila’s maritime provocations; to rally ASEAN members for support during its chairmanship; and to use the process as cover to cement the illegal ‘2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea,’” claimed Ding Duo, director of research for the National institute for South China Sea Studies.

Of course, the “illegal arbitral award” Ding sneered at was the entirely legal international tribunal judgment the Philippines won against China at the Hague in 2016. The Global Times cited Monday’s incident as an example of the Marcos government attempting to “forcibly intrude” into waters claimed by Beijing.

A Chinese navy ship collided with another vessel operated by its own country’s coast guard on Monday, while the latter chased a patrol boat from the Philippines at high speed in the South China Sea, according to officials in Manila.

The incident occurred near the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed shoal in contested waters.

Video of the collision, which Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela shared to social media in its aftermath, shows a Chinese coast guard vessel tailing the Filipino patrol boat before a navy warship belonging to the Chinese military suddenly cuts in front of it. The patrol boat was among several Filipino vessels carrying fuel and supplies to fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal, as part of an initiative by the Philippine government that calls on its coast guard to support the country’s fishing industry, according to the Philippine Information Agency.

In the video footage, the Chinese coast guard vessel appears to slam into the warship’s port side, forcing both to come to a halt while the Filipino boat continues sailing on. Tarriela said in a statement that the collision took place as the Chinese coast guard “performed a risky maneuver” in pursuit of the patrol boat, resulting in “substantial damage” to the Chinese vessel.

Here is a longer video capturing the collision between the PLA Navy 164 and the China Coast Guard 3104. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has consistently urged the Chinese government to respect the COLREGS and to approach these matters with professionalism, especially considering… https://t.co/n7vcU4lGWq pic.twitter.com/cHU7rG2wAj — Jay Tarriela (@jaytaryela) August 11, 2025

The Chinese coast guard blamed Philippine vessels for the confrontation. Gan Yu, a spokesperson for the China Coast Guard, told the official Chinese state news agency Xinhua that Philippine vessels intruded and disregarded China’s repeated warnings. He did not, however, specifically mention a collision and said all actions by China’s coast guard were professional and legitimate.

Tarriela said the Philippine coast guard “immediately offered support” to the Chinese coast guard crew, “including assistance with man-overboard recovery and medical aid” for anyone injured. The extent of any damage to the Chinese vessel or harm to crew members on board was not clear based on Tarriela’s footage.

Officials in the Philippines urged the Chinese government to adhere to international rules that aim to prevent maritime collisions, with the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement that it “has repeatedly emphasized the importance of maritime safety, and is prepared to work with relevant parties to draw lessons from this incident.”

Monday’s incident follows escalating tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, as China has repeatedly rammed Philippine ships in that region and struck them with water cannons in recent years, “60 Minutes” previously reported. Tarriela said Chinese vessels launched water cannons at Philippine patrol boats during their latest encounter, but the boats evaded them.

In this photo, taken from video and provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a damaged Chinese Coast Guard ship, right, is seen beside a Chinese Navy vessel, left, after they accidentally collided while chasing a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, Aug. 11, 2025. / Credit: Philippine Coast Guard via AP

Last September, a “60 Minutes” crew witnessed firsthand an incident in which a Chinese coast guard vessel rammed into a Philippine coast guard ship that had deployed for a mission to resupply ships and stations in the South China Sea. The damaged Philippine ship was forced to abandon the first stop of its mission as Chinese vessels surrounded and followed it closely.

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The Philippine military has blamed China for the collision of two Chinese navy and coast guard ships while trying to drive the Philippine coast guard and fishermen from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

In a statement on Tuesday, it said it would assess how to respond to Beijing’s use of military force against civilians.

“Their actions not only posed a grave danger to Philippine personnel and vessels, but also resulted in the unfortunate collision between the two Chinese vessels,” the Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement.

Philippine authorities said Monday’s accidental collision resulted in visibly heavy damage to the Chinese coast guard and navy ships and possible injuries.

The confrontation near the Scarborough Shoal was the latest flare-up of the long-simmering territorial standoff in the contested waters of the South China Sea.

The United States, a long-time treaty ally of the Philippines, condemned the “latest reckless action by China directed against a Philippine vessel” on Tuesday.

The Chinese coast guard on Monday blamed Philippine vessels for the confrontation and said it was forced to expel the vessels after they intruded into “China’s inherent territory,” despite warnings.

A damaged Chinese Coast Guard ship is seen after accidentally colliding with a Chinese Navy vessel in the disputed South China Sea, 11 August, 2025 AP Photo

It did not mention the collision or possible casualties.

Video footage made public by the Philippine coast guard shows a Chinese navy ship with the bow number 164 slamming into the bow of a Chinese coast guard ship while both try to block and force a Philippine patrol ship, the BRP Suluan, away from Scarborough.

The Chinese coast guard ship can be seen using its water cannon.

The video shows the heavily shattered bow of the Chinese coast guard ship, where at least two Chinese personnel were seen standing shortly before the crash.

The Chinese navy ship sustained deep dents and what appeared to be linear cuts on its hull.

BRP Suluan offered medical help by two-way radio to the Chinese coast guard, fearing the collision may have caused injuries to its personnel, but the Philippine coast guard said it received no response.

Gan Yu, a spokesperson for the Chinese coast guard in Beijing, said on Monday that the Philippine vessels intruded into Chinese territorial waters off the shoal, prompting its forces to take “necessary measures, including monitoring, forcing, intercepting and controlling the Philippine vessels to expel them.”

The chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, General Romeo Brawner Jr., told reporters in Manila that the video footage clearly showed that the Chinese navy ship manoeuvred to ram the BRP Suluan, which had to move to avoid being hit.

As a result, the Chinese navy ship instead hit the Chinese coast guard ship, which was also closely chasing the Philippine vessel, Brawner said.

“China’s aggressive actions were very clear in this incident,” Brawner said. “They were at fault because of their aggressive manoeuvres. We were there to protect Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal. That was our only objective because that’s our traditional fishing ground.”

A Chinese Navy vessel accidentally collides with a Chinese Coast Guard ship while chasing a Philippine fisheries boat in the disputed South China Sea, 11 August, 2025 AP Photo

Asked if China’s deployment of military force against civilians was a change in tactic, Brawner said it was.

He said the Philippine military would assess how to respond in consultation with the coast guard and would seek guidance from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Now they are deploying their PLA navy and this is one symbol of China’s aggressiveness,” he said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army.

“We’ll discuss possible steps and our future tactics to counter China’s actions to stop us from getting access (to Scarborough).”

Chinese officials did not immediately comment on Brawner’s statement but Gan Yu insisted its forces would be “resolutely safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

A Chinese warship accidentally collided with its own coast guard vessel amid dangerous blocking manoeuvres in the South China Sea, a Philippine Coast Guard official says.

The country released a dramatic video of the skirmish in the Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing atoll off the northwestern Philippines.

Coast Guard commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese coast guard ships chased and staged dangerous blocking manoeuvres against Philippine coast guard and fishing vessels.

A Philippine coast guard ship managed to evade being hit by a Chinese coast guard water cannon during the melee, he said.

While chasing a Philippine coast guard vessel, a Chinese coast guard ship accidentally collided with a Chinese navy ship, Tarriela said.

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The Chinese coast guard ship sustained “substantial damage” and the Philippine coast guard offered to provide help, including medical assistance, to the Chinese side, he said.

China confirmed the confrontation took place and accused the Philippines of “forcibly intruding” into its waters, but did not mention the apparent collision, the BBC reports.

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It’s the latest flare-up of long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a key global trade route, where overlapping claims between China and the Philippines have escalated in recent years.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay claims to parts of the contested waters.

Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal and other outcroppings in the South China Sea. China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012 and has since restricted access to Filipino fishermen there.

A 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid, but Beijing refuses to abide by it.

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Additional reporting by 1News