The government of the Philippines expressed serious concern on Tuesday (August 12) about the “dangerous actions and illegal interference” by Chinese ships near Huangyan Island in the South China Sea. The day before, a Chinese navy missile destroyer engaged in a high-speed chase with Philippine Coast Guard ships, resulting in a collision between the Chinese ship and a Philippine vessel, causing severe damage to the Philippine vessel and also impacting the destroyer. After the Philippines released a video of the incident, it sparked various responses.
During the incident, three Philippine ships were delivering fuel and ice to local fishermen when they were intercepted and surrounded by multiple Chinese ships. A video released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the Chinese Navy’s Type 052D missile destroyer with hull number 164, named “Gui Lin,” abruptly cutting into the path of the Chinese Coast Guard ship 3104 and violently colliding. The Philippines claimed that the actual target of the Chinese destroyer was the Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Suluan.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Brawner criticized this as a deliberate provocation, while US Ambassador to the Philippines Carlson condemned the Chinese actions as “reckless” and praised the professionalism of the Philippine Coast Guard in the incident for providing medical and search and rescue assistance via radio, which went unanswered by the Chinese side.
Beijing has yet to acknowledge the collision involving its ships, only stating that they were driving away “illegally intruding” Philippine vessels. Scarborough Shoal is located approximately 140 miles west of Luzon Island in the Philippines and, according to a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration tribunal, falls within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. However, China has been sending Coast Guard ships to control the area since 2012.
This rare “self-collision” incident is the first known case in the South China Sea region. Experts believe that this incident dealt a significant blow to China’s military “image.”
Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Tarriela stated that the Chinese Navy’s “reckless actions” caused “significant damage” to the bow of the Chinese Coast Guard vessel, rendering it “unseaworthy.”
According to CNN, Ray Powell, the director of the SeaLight program at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, highlighted that if a destroyer were to collide with a small Philippine Coast Guard vessel, the consequences could lead to casualties or even the sinking of the ship, which might be considered an “armed attack” according to the Philippines’ Mutual Defense Treaty with the US.
Analysts criticized the deployment of the Type 052D destroyer, loaded with dozens of anti-air, anti-ship, and land-attack missiles, in close-range interception as a “serious misuse of military force.” Typically, such vessels would provide support for Coast Guard law enforcement from a distance rather than engaging in direct collisions. Retired US Navy Colonel Schuster analyzed the video and suggested that the Chinese attempted to force the Philippine vessels into close-range water cannon fire in a “pincer” maneuver but ended up self-colliding due to a lack of coordination and technical errors.
Professor Patalano from King’s College London criticized China’s actions as both “unprofessional and extremely dangerous,” ultimately incapacitating its own Coast Guard vessel. Scholar Koh from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore described it as “using high-tech warships to do the work of law enforcement vessels, which is clearly an excessive action.”
Experts warned that in the high-pressure confrontations between military and Coast Guard vessels in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, a misjudgment could quickly escalate into a confrontation between major powers. Director Powell from SeaLight, an organization dedicated to South China Sea security research, pointed out that China’s long-standing promotion of a “wolf warrior” aggressive culture, where a pilot who died in a collision with a US reconnaissance plane in 2001 was glorified as a hero, may lead to radical behavior among military officers.