The Philippines on Monday called China an "aggressor", accusing it of "increasing tensions" in the South China Sea and causing the collision that damaged one of Manila's boats during a resupply mission.
No one was harmed when a Chinese coast guard ship and one of Manila's smaller wooden resupply boats made contact on Sunday, but the incident has drawn international condemnation and expressions of concern from the United States.
"All incidents like this will bolster the case that it's not the Philippines that's the aggressor, but the other party, which is China," Philippine foreign ministry spokesperson Teresita Daza told a joint news conference on Monday.
China's coast guard said on Sunday there had been a "slight collision" between one of its ships and the Philippine boat while the coast guard was "lawfully" blocking the boat from transporting "illegal construction materials".
It was not the first time that China's coastguard, backed by its maritime militia boats, have interfered with the Philippines' resupply mission. On Aug. 5, a Chinese coastguard ship used a water cannon against a resupply boat.
The regular resupply missions are for Philippine troops living aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, a former warship that Manila grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to assert its sovereignty claims.
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