Chinese, Philippine ships collide in disputed water, both sides trade blame

China's coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel early Monday near Sabina Shoal, a new flashpoint in the increasingly alarming territorial disputes between the countries in the South China Sea.

Two Philippine coast guard ships entered waters near the shoal, ignored the Chinese coast guard's warning and deliberately collided with one of China's boats at 3:24 a.m., a spokesperson said in a statement on the Chinese coast guard's website.

Philippine authorities did not immediately comment on the encounter near the disputed atoll in the Spratly Islands, where overlapping claims are also made by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The Philippine side is entirely responsible for the collision, spokesman Gan Yu said. We warn the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringement and provocation, otherwise it will bear all the consequences arising from that.

Gan added China claimed indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, known in Chine