AARON PATRICK: China coast guard ship in collision probably a ‘write off’ says military expert

A Chinese Coast Guard ship that collided with a Chinese destroyer during a high-speed confrontation with the Philippines navy this week was probably so badly damaged that it cannot be repaired, a former Australian naval commander said.

Jennifer Parker said Monday’s incident in the South China Sea’s disputed Scarborough Shoal, which made global headlines after dramatic footage spread across the internet, likely cost several Chinese sailors their lives and could have led to a military confrontation between the two countries.

Video showed the Coast Guard corvette chasing a Filipino patrol boat in an apparent attempt to spray it with a water cannon, which could have disabled its engine. As the Coast Guard ship closed in, a much-larger Chinese destroyer emerged from the corvette’s right-hand side and cut it off.

The Coast Guard ship hit the left-hand side of the destroyer, crumpling its forecastle. The damage was so severe that Ms Parker, a former frigate deputy captain, said the ship was unlikely to be repairable.

The confrontation was an example of how maritime tensions between China and other countries in the region have the potential to spill into violence. Some analysts predict similar incidents will become more frequent as China seeks to become the dominant military power across the region, displacing the US.

So far, though, Chinese forces have stopped short of aggressive actions that could kill military personnel from other countries, although have come close. In February, a Chinese fighter released flares near an Australian P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft over the South China Sea, an act that could have destroyed its engines.

T-bone

“I don’t think they were trying to T-bone the Philippines vessel because if they had, they could have sunk it,” Ms Parker said.

“The destroyer miscalculated or wasn’t paying attention. It shows how unprofessional they were and their lack of seamanship.”

Moments before the collision, two Coast Guard sailors deployed a large fender over the bow, possibly to protect their ship from the destroyer, which may not have seen the much-smaller ship, according to Ms Parker.

Afterwards, several Chinese ships sailed in narrow, box-like patterns around the area, according to tracking data, as though looking for sailors who may have fallen overboard. They did not respond to Filipino offers of help, according to the government.

Under a policy stated by Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, any death of a Filipino, either civilian or military, in a confrontation with Chinese forces would be a “red line”.

“That is what I think (is) very, very close to what we define as an act of war and therefore we will respond accordingly,” he said in Singapore last June. “And our treaty partners, I believe, also hold that same standard.”

US forces

After the collision the US, which has a military defence pact with the Philippines, sent the destroyer USS Higgins and littoral combat ship the USS Cincinnati to Scarborough Shoal.

The Chinese sent a fighter jet to harass a Philippine coast guard aircraft. Their warships shadowed the American ships.

Chinese authorities said they had “driven away” the US destroyer, which entered its territory “without approval of the Chinese government”. The US government said it would not be deterred from operating “wherever international law allows, as USS Higgins did here.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, contesting claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Under the Marcos government, the Philippines have given the US greater access to military facilities, deployed advanced missile systems and conducted multiple wargames with the US near Taiwan, according to Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based analyst.

“This has clearly spooked Beijing,” he wrote on Thursday in the Interpreter, a publication of the Lowy Institute think tank.