Chinese Coast Guard rammed and boarded Philippine navy boats in latest South China Sea confrontation, Manila says. Beijing defends its actions.
Chinese Coast Guard rammed and boarded Philippine naval boats and confiscated their weapons in the South China Sea, injuring a Filipino soldier, the Philippine military said on Wednesday.
"The Chinese Coast Guard personnel illegally embarked on our RHIBS (rigid-hulled inflatable boats)," Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres told reporters, adding that Chinese boarders had some guns.
The incident is the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in recent months off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where a tiny Philippine garrison is stationed on an old warship BRP Sierra Madre that was deliberately beached.
You gotta remember World Wars take a bit to warm up first. Skirmish here, escalation there, lots of sitting on thumbs for a while, and then everyone piles in after the rate of occupation starts to get out of hand and the aggressors show deft multi-tasking skills.