After Chinese ships ram each other, concern over dangerous encounters in South China Sea

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.

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