Sailors from the Chinese and Philippine navies faced off with oars and batons in the disputed South China Sea, with Philippine officials saying that one of its sailors suffered a head injury as a result of the altercation.What did Beijing, Manila say about the South China Sea confrontation?
The latest confrontation took place on Monday near the Second Thomas Shoal, a contested area where the two countries haverepeatedly clashed before. The Philippines keeps a military presence in the area aboard the grounded warship BRP Sierra Madre.
Manila said that Chinese Coast Guard personnel had assaulted Filipino sailors as they approached the outpost.
China quickly rejected this narrative. Beijing's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the "Philippine side provoked the incident first," by approaching the Chinese vessel in small rubber boats, but then "turned around and made counter-accusations, distorted the facts and engaged in malicious hype."
On Tuesday, China summoned the Philippine ambassador in Beijing to lodge its complaints, with the Philippines quickly following suit with the Chinese counterpart in Manila.
