• China warns the US of no right to intervene in its maritime disputes with the Philippines.
• The US has condemned China’s actions against “lawful Philippine maritime operations” following the latest clash.
• Analysts suggest Beijing aims to push eastward from the Second Thomas Shoal.

On Tuesday, China warned the United States that it has “no right to intervene” in its maritime disputes with the Philippines following another clash near a disputed reef in the South China Sea. Over the past year, China and the Philippines have repeatedly clashed in these waters, including around a warship that Manila grounded on the contested Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, which now hosts a garrison.

On Monday, both countries reported that their coast guard ships had collided near the disputed Sabina Shoal. This shoal is located 140 kilometers west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan Island, the nearest Chinese landmass. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite an international tribunal ruling that this claim has no legal basis.

On Monday, the United States condemned the “dangerous actions” against “lawful Philippine maritime operations” following the latest clash.

“These actions are the latest examples of (China) using dangerous and escalatory measures to enforce its expansive and unlawful South China Sea maritime claims,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

On Tuesday, Mao Ning, the Chinese spokesperson, defended Beijing’s “legal measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests” in response to Patel’s remarks.

“The US is not a party in the South China Sea and has no right to intervene in maritime disputes between China and the Philippines,” Mao told a regular briefing.

“The US should stop provoking confrontation in the South China Sea, not disrupt regional stability, and not escalate tensions,” Mao said.

Analysts have said that Beijing aims to push eastward from the Second Thomas Shoal toward the neighboring Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands, encroaching on Manila’s exclusive economic zone and normalizing Chinese control of the area. The confrontations echo the events of 2012 when Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal, another strategic feature in the South China Sea closest to the Philippines.

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