Filipino soldiers were forced to fight with “bare hands” after Chinese coastguard officers threatened them with weapons in a South China Sea clash.
Footage released by the Philippine military showed Chinese troops slashing their rubber boats, and brandishing an axe, hammers, machetes and knives.
The Philippines and China have blamed each other for the confrontation in the seas surrounding the contested Spratly Islands on Monday.
China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it. The Philippines contests this, laying its own claim to parts of the region.
Senior Philippine military officials said the Chinese officers stormed aboard their vessels, looted rifles, destroyed the outboard motors, communication and navigation equipment and stole the phones of Filipino personnel.
One serviceman lost his right hand thumb when the Chinese navy rammed the rubber boat he was on, the Filipino military added.
“Only pirates do this. Only pirates board, steal, and destroy ships, equipment, and belongings,” Romeo Brawner Jr, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said.
The incident took place during a Philippine mission to resupply its soldiers stationed on a beached World War II-era warship.
The Chinese military disputed this, and said the vessels were carrying smuggled weapons.
A spokesperson said: “They intentionally rammed into Chinese vessels and splashed water and threw things on Chinese law-enforcement personnel.
“These actions have obviously aggravated tensions at sea and seriously threatened the safety of Chinese personnel and ships.”
The clash comes after a new law in China took effect on Saturday, authorising its coast guard to seize foreign ships and detain crews suspected of trespassing for up to 60 days without trial.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller expressed solidarity with the Phillippines on Monday, and condemned China’s actions.
The country has a defence pact with the Phillippines dating back to 1951 which says both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party.
Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said it was unprecedented for China’s navy to board a Philippine naval vessel.
He said: “They can be rubber boats, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are Philippine Navy vessels, and according to international law, they enjoy what we term as sovereign immunity.
“That is very dangerous, because, if anything, that could even be construed as an act of war.”
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