China and the Philippines moved to summon each other’s ambassadors on Tuesday, a day after a confrontation at Second Thomas Shoal left a Filipino sailor with a head injury and damaged a Philippine Navy rubber boat. The reciprocal diplomatic action, unusual despite repeated maritime confrontations, marked a sharper turn than most such incidents produce.
Manila said a China Coast Guard boat approached the grounded BRP Sierra Madre on Monday July 20, and that Chinese personnel struck a sailor with a wooden baton as Philippine boats moved to intercept. Beijing said the Philippine boats rammed a Chinese patrol craft and that Filipino personnel attacked first with oars and sticks. Footage released by both sides shows a close-range struggle but does not establish how it began.
The shoal lies within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. A 2016 arbitral tribunal rejected the legal basis for China’s sweeping historic-rights claims in the South China Sea, although Beijing refuses to recognise the ruling.
Washington condemned China’s conduct as dangerous and aggressive. The Philippines is a US treaty ally, and the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty covers attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels and aircraft in the Pacific.
China said it allowed the injured sailor to be evacuated. But the confrontation shows how quickly coercive patrols around the Sierra Madre can turn violent. The next resupply operation will test whether the two sides can contain the dispute before another encounter produces more serious consequences.
