China accuses the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel

China’s coast guard accused the Philippines of deliberately crashing one of its ships into a Chinese vessel early Monday near Sabina Shoal, a new flashpoint in the increasingly alarming territorial disputes between the countries in the South China Sea.

Two Philippine coast guard ships entered waters near the shoal, ignored the Chinese coast guard’s warning and “deliberately collided” with one of China’s boats at 3:24 a.m., a spokesperson said in a statement on the Chinese coast guard’s website.