WorldPhilippines accuses China coast guard of injuring sailor at disputed shoal

The Philippine military accused China’s coast guard of allegedly injuring a Filipino sailor during an incident at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Philippine officials said personnel aboard a motorboat repeatedly hit the sailor on the head with a wooden baton. They said the assault injured him and damaged his smaller vessel. China’s coast guard responded by claiming that two rubber boats involved belonged to an “illegally” stationed Filipino presence. The two sides presented sharply different accounts of the encounter.