(UPDATE) A CHINESE navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday, Manila said, releasing dramatic video footage of the confrontation.
The incident occurred near the contested Scarborough Shoal as the Philippine coast guard escorted boats distributing aid to fishermen in the area, spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a statement.
Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull colliding with a loud crash.
COLLISION This handout video grab, released and taken on Aug. 11, 2025, by the Philippine Coast Guard, shows an incident between a Chinese Navy vessel (left) and a Chinese Coast Guard ship (right) as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
“The (China Coast Guard vessel) CCG 3104, which was chasing the (Filipino coast guard vessel) BRP Suluan at high speed, performed a risky maneuver from the (Philippine) vessel’s starboard quarter, leading to the impact with the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy warship,” Tarriela said.
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“This resulted in substantial damage to the CCG vessel’s forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy,” he said.
Gan Yu, a Chinese coast guard spokesman, confirmed that a Monday confrontation had taken place without mentioning the collision.
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“The China Coast Guard took necessary measures in accordance with the law, including monitoring, pressing from the outside, blocking and controlling the Philippine vessels to drive them away,” he said in a statement.
The reported collision is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
More than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the disputed waterway.
Speaking at a morning news conference, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country’s patrol vessels would “continue to be present” in the area to defend, as well as exercise Manila’s sovereign rights over what it considers to be part of its territory.
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The President said he will never order the pullout of Philippine vessels in Scarborough Shoal despite China’s continuing aggressive acts in the resource-rich territory.
“What special instructions do I have? We don’t have any special instructions. We’re used to this,” he said.
“What will happen here is we will continue to be present. We will continue to defend our territory. We will continue to exercise our sovereign rights. And despite any opposition from anyone, we will continue to do that as we have done in the past three years. Now, we do not intensify our operations; we just respond. We are not aggressive. We’re just defending,” he added.
The President reiterated that the Philippine government has no intention of initiating a violent payback against China, but it doesn’t mean it will cower in the face of adversity.
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The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks — has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.
It was unclear if anyone was hurt in Monday’s incident.
Tarriela said the Chinese crew “never responded” to the Filipino ship’s offer of assistance.
Earlier in the confrontation, the BRP Suluan was “targeted with a water cannon” by the Chinese but “successfully” evaded it, Tarriela said.
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Reap what you sow
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said China reaped what it sowed when two of their vessels collided after they fired water cannon at Philippine boats on a resupply mission in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“This is a classic case of reaping what one sows,” Estrada said in a statement on Monday.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros echoed Estrada’s view. She said China should stop this violence.
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“This proves that Beijing’s own actions are reckless and endanger their own people. I hope they take this incident as a lesson,” Hontiveros said.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said the latest incident showed the “peril our troops face in asserting our rightful jurisdiction on our waters.”
“We’re grateful that despite the harassment, our coast guard personnel are safe and able to continue their duty of patrolling our territorial waters,” Villanueva said.
Hontiveros called on the government to support the fishermen to the “fullest extent possible, and to allow them continued access to their traditional fishing areas in the Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).”
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Estrada said the CCG “must cease and desist from engaging in dangerous maneuvers against our Philippine Coast Guard and other maritime vessels.”
“These tactics not only endanger our maritime personnel and fisherfolk — they also escalate tensions unnecessarily. Nothing good will come of such actions, except the empty display of logistical superiority,” Estrada said.
The Department of National Defense said it “stands in solidarity” with the Philippine Coast Guard amid rising tensions following the recent collision between two Chinese ships.
“The DND stands in solidarity with the Philippine Coast Guard in the face of Chinese atrocious and inane behavior in the West Philippine Sea,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a statement.
Teodoro seconded the President’s statement that the Philippine government “does not want war or seek any confrontation” but must do what it needs to do to protect the country’s sovereignty and sovereign rights.
“This is not aggression but simply the sacred duty of all Filipinos. We do not control what external actors may think or may do, but we must deter them from making choices that violate Philippine interests,” Teodoro said.
