Chinese coastguard ship blocks Philippine patrol boat near disputed shoal

A Chinese coastguard ship blocks Philippine coastguard boat BRP Malapascua (Aaron Favila/AP)

A Chinese coastguard ship blocked a Philippine patrol boat heading into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea – causing a near-crash in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway.

The high seas face-off on Sunday between the larger Chinese ship and the Philippine coastguard’s BRP Malapascua near the Second Thomas Shoal was among the tense moments it and another Philippine vessel encountered in a week-long sovereignty patrol in one of the world’s most hotly contested waterways.