By AFP and Joyce Huang | 2026-07-21

The Philippines and China have summoned each other's ambassadors after a South China Sea confrontation that Manila says injured a Philippine sailor, marking a rare diplomatic escalation between the two countries.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan on July 21, hours after China's Foreign Ministry called in Manila's ambassador in Beijing, following the confrontation near Second Thomas Shoal a day earlier.

Conflicting accounts

Manila and Beijing offered sharply different versions of the July 20 episode. Manila's military accused China Coast Guard (CCG) personnel of assaulting a Filipino sailor near the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded warship that serves as a Philippine military outpost on Second Thomas Shoal.

The Philippine military sent two rubber boats to drive away a Chinese rigid-hull inflatable boat carrying eight personnel. The Chinese were circling the Sierra Madre and taking photographs and video of it, Manila said.

"The [Chinese] personnel reacted violently and aggressively by striking a Philippine Navy personnel on the head with a wooden baton, causing injury and damaging the … boat," the Philippines said in a statement.

"The Philippine side provoked the incident first … and engaged in malicious hype," China's Foreign Ministry said.

China will continue "rights-protection and law-enforcement operations" near Second Thomas Shoal," CCG spokesperson Jiang Lue said.

The encounter added "to a clear pattern of provocative and hostile behavior" by the CCG, the Philippine Department of National Defense said. It called Beijing's version of the events "false and misleading."

Rare diplomatic move

Despite frequent maritime confrontations, the governments rarely summon each other's ambassadors. The latest exchange marked the third publicly reported instance of China calling in the Philippine ambassador during Marcos's administration, according to Reuters.

The first occurred in January 2024 after Manila congratulated Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te. The second came in November 2024 following the enactment of the Philippines' Maritime Zones Act and Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act.

Marcos last summoned a Chinese ambassador in 2023 after a CCG ship aimed a military-grade laser at a Philippine coast guard vessel.

The latest confrontation follows a similar incident in June 2024, when Chinese law enforcement personnel armed with knives, sticks and an axe attacked Filipino troops resupplying the Sierra Madre. The two sides reached a provisional agreement on resupply missions a month later.

International response

The confrontation threatened to overshadow a gathering of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila this week, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Philippines. Before departing Washington, Rubio said he was open to a possible sideline meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the gathering.

"China's troubling pattern of provocation against lawful Philippine maritime operations undermines regional peace and stability and directly contradicts China's repeated commitments to resolve disputes peacefully," the U.S. State Department said, besides denouncing China's "dangerous and aggressive actions."

In an op-ed published upon his arrival in Philippine outlets, Rubio touted Washington's commitment "to freedom of navigation in Southeast Asia" and the regional defensive support it has provided.

"This freedom is by no means guaranteed. If these waters were to fall under the control of a power willing to use trade as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] states would face serious new threats to their sovereignty, security, and economic future," he wrote.

Australia weighed in, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, at Philippine coast guard headquarters in Manila, condemning what she called China's "destabilizing and dangerous conduct" in the South China Sea.

The latest confrontation unfolded amid broader tensions between Manila and Beijing. The Philippines recently lodged a diplomatic protest over a Chinese state media video that depicted the Philippines as a cartoon monkey.