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BEIJING: China’s defense ministry accused Philippine Coast Guard vessels on Friday of “dangerous maneuvers” in response to reports of a collision earlier this week between two Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.

The Philippine vessels’ actions “seriously endangered the safety of Chinese vessels and personnel,” ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin.

Jiang neither confirmed nor denied that there had been a collision involving two Chinese vessels on Monday.

“We demand that the Philippine side immediately stop its infringing and provocative rhetoric and actions,” Jiang said. “China reserves the right to take necessary countermeasures.”

The Scarborough Shoal has been a major source of tension in what is a strategic conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.

Footage from the Philippine Coast Guard showed a Chinese coast guard ship trailing the PCG vessel before a Chinese navy ship suddenly cut across the path of the other Chinese ship, colliding with it and damaging the forecastle of the coast guard vessel.

It was the first known crash between Chinese vessels in the area.

The Philippines on Friday said it bore no responsibility for the collision.

“It was an unfortunate outcome, but not one caused by our actions,” Manila’s foreign minister Theresa Lazaro said in a statement.

The Philippine Coast Guard deployed three vessels on Monday to deliver supplies for Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal before the collision took place, Manila said on Tuesday.

The confrontation was the latest in a series of incidents amid a period of heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal voided Beijing’s sweeping claims in the region, saying they had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s people should spurn China’s events to commemorate the end of World War Two, including a military parade in Beijing, given Chinese “distortion” of history and threats against the island, Taipei’s top China-policy maker said on Friday.

China, which views democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has invited Taiwanese veterans who fought against Japan to the parade next month which will be overseen by President Xi Jinping.

Taiwan has denounced China for using this year’s 80th anniversary of the war’s end for political purposes against Taipei, saying Beijing has falsely claimed it was the Communist Party that led the fighting against Japan rather than the Republic of China government, which at the time ruled China.

The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao Zedong, who then established the People’s Republic of China, while Republic of China remains Taiwan’s official name.

In a video released by his office, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said the People’s Republic of China did not even exist during World War Two.

“The Chinese Communist regime has repeatedly distorted the facts in recent years, claiming that the war against Japan was led by the Communist Party, and has even fabricated the notion that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China,” Chiu said.

The government urges Taiwan’s people to “unite and jointly defend national sovereignty and dignity” and not take part in China’s war commemorations, like the parade, he added.

People should instead participate in Taiwan’s own events to express their resolve to protect Taiwan and oppose aggression, Chiu said.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China has for its part also accused Taiwan of distorting the history of the war for its own purposes.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page earlier on Friday to mark the anniversary, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said, without directly mentioning China, that aggression only leads to defeat, and as authoritarianism once again gathers strength, it is important that freedom and democracy prevail.

“The most valuable lesson of World War Two is that unity leads to victory, while aggression leads to defeat,” he wrote.

China calls Lai, who rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, a “separatist” and has rebuffed his offers of talks. Late on Thursday, Taiwan said it had banned government officials and former senior defense, intelligence and diplomatic officials from attending Beijing’s military parade.