Video from the Philippine coast guard shows the Chinese and Philippine ships colliding in the Sabina Shoal, a disputed area. In one instance, the Chinese vessel appears to deliberately cut off the Philippine ship.

However, both sides quickly blamed each other for the incident.

Liu Dejun, a spokesman for the Chinese coast guard, said in a statement that the Philippine vessel was “illegally anchored” in the area and was “provoking and causing trouble.”

In a post on X that included footage of the incident, Jay Tarriella, a spokesman for the Philippine coast guard, said the Chinese ship “deliberately rammed and collided” with the Philippine ship “despite no provocation.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned China’s actions in a statement, calling them “dangerous and escalatory.”

“This is the latest in a series of dangerous and escalatory actions by the PRC. On multiple occasions throughout August 2024, the PRC has aggressively disrupted lawful Philippine aerial and maritime operations in the South China Sea, including at Sabina Shoal. The PRC’s unlawful claims of ‘territorial sovereignty’ over ocean areas where no land territory exists, and its increasingly aggressive actions to enforce them, threaten the freedoms of navigation and overflight of all nations,” he said.

The Sabina Shoal is about 87 miles west of the Philippine island of Palawan, while it is about 746 miles away from the closest Chinese land mass, according to Al Jazeera.

In May, Philippine officials said China was beginning to build “large man-made islands” near the Sabina Shoal, pointing to evidence of deposits of crushed coral. Philippine patrols thwarted those attempts, according to Tarriella.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea where the Sabina Soal is located.