Colin Clark
SYDNEY — As China has again ramped up its aggressive actions against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, the recent collision of a Peoples Liberation Army Navy vessel with one from the Chinese Coast Guard illustrates how dangerous these encounters are becoming.
The coast guard vessel’s bow was smashed and the fate of several sailors who were on the bow moments before the Aug. 11 incident remain publicly unaccounted for by Chinese authorities.
“It looked to me as if the CCG vessel abruptly cut back into the wake of the Philippine vessel, which then put it directly in the path of the PLA Navy warship,” China analyst Euan Graham with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in an email to Breaking Defense. “Whatever the exact circumstances, China ended up wearing the consequences of its own dangerous seamanship. Close marking a much smaller Philippines vessel in this way could easily have ended in Philippine sailors being seriously injured or killed, painting China as the obvious aggressor.
“It shows how close we are to an incident that triggers a wider diplomatic and military crisis,” he said.
Instead of expressing concern, China has blamed the Philippines for the incident, despite video evidence showing the Philippine Coast Guard ship trying to evade being rammed or sprayed with a powerful water cannon by the Chinese Coast Guard ship.
“The key takeaway from this unprecedented collision was that clearly there might have been some problems in the coordination between the PLAN and CCG,” said Collin Koh, a senior fellow and coordinator of maritime affairs at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies who closely follows China’s maritime activities. “Immediately after the collision, the DDG 164 [Chinese naval vessel] did not stop to aid the CCG 3104 [Coast Guard vessel] but went on to chase after the [Philippine Coast Guard ship] Suluan. There could be something to be said about the internal working dynamics between the CCG and PLAN.”
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