The Philippines and China exchanged accusations on Sunday over two collisions between two Chinese ships and two Philippine ships carrying supplies to Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea.
Both incidents occurred about 25 km from the second Thomas Shoal atoll in the disputed Spratly Islands between the two countries.

“Dangerous interdiction maneuvers by Chinese Coast Guard Vessel 5203 resulted in a collision (…) with a supply vessel contracted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” a Philippine government task force reported.
For its part, China confirmed that there was a “minor skirmish” as the supply ship “ignored several warnings and deliberately passed through law enforcement forces in an unprofessional and dangerous manner,” according to a report by CCTV public television network Foreign Affairs.
In the second incident, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel accompanying a supply mission was “collided by a Chinese naval vessel,” the Philippine Task Force said.
However, Beijing accused the Philippine vessel of “deliberately” causing the accident by “prematurely” moving back toward the Chinese fishing vessel.
The second Thomas Atoll is about 200 km from the Philippine island of Palawan and a thousand km from the large Chinese island of Hainan. Also located far away.