BEIJING/MANILA, June 17 (Reuters) – China and the Philippines traded accusations over a collision in the South China Sea on Monday, with Manila saying its armed forces would resist Beijing’s actions in the disputed waters in the latest in an increasingly testy series of confrontations.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
For months, China and the Philippines have traded barbs over dangerous maneuvers and collisions at the Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll within Manila’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
In the latest incident on Monday, China’s coastguard said a Philippine supply ship “deliberately and dangerously” approached a Chinese ship resulting in a slight collision after the Philippine ship “illegally intruded” into…
