Injured Allied Navy Sailors Given Combat Medals After China Clash

Manila has decorated three sailors who were wounded by Chinese water cannons during a supply mission to a contentious Philippine outpost in the South China Sea.

Philippine military Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner, Western Command chief Alberto Carlos and coast guard head Ronnie Gil Gavan conferred the medals on the trio at a Palawan hospital, where they were being treated, local media reported.

The incident occurred early Saturday morning as a Philippine navy–commissioned boat, Uzaimah May 4, and her two coast guard escorts were en route to deliver fresh troops and supplies to Second Thomas Shoal, where a warship that ran aground decades ago serves as a military outpost that Beijing calls illegal.

China's territorial claims over most of the South China Sea extend to areas like Second Thomas Shoal that lie within the Philippines' internationally recognized 200-nautical mile (230 miles) exclusive economic zone. As the convoy approached, it was met by a force of Chinese vessels, which attempted to head off the convoy with aggressive blocking maneuvers and water cannons.

Footage released by the Philippine government shows the China Coast raking Uzaimah May 4 with the high-pressure water cannons. A separate video shot from within the stricken vessel, which was disabled in the blasts, shows the crew scrambling for cover.

Two of them suffered head injuries, while the third was nearly thrown overboard. "He was thrown to the wall.... He could have been thrown overboard," Brawner told reporters during the hospital visit.

China's coast guard said Sunday the conduct of its crews on Saturday was "reasonable, lawful, professional and standardized" in the face of Philippine attempts to "infringe on rights and provoke."

The Philippine defense officials awarded the three sailors the Wounded Personnel Medal given to those who risk their lives during combat.

Brawner also awarded the Military Merit Medal, for "heroic achievement in combat or meritorious achievement" outside of combat, to members of the last supply mission, which also included the Uzaimah May 4, to Second Thomas Shoal. That mission was on March 5.

These members included four who were injured by broken glass when a Chinese water cannon shattered the supply boat's windshield.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday that he has met with defense and national security leadership after the latest confrontation with China.

He vowed new countermeasures in the coming weeks commensurate with the "open, unabating and illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous attacks by agents of the China coast guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia."

He added: "Filipinos do not yield."

This month's and other recent clashes with China over Second Thomas Shoal and other South China Sea hot spots have brought renewed attention to Manila's Mutual Defense Treaty with Washington.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Philippine counterpart, Gilbertot Teodoro, on Wednesday, according to a Pentagon statement. During the call, Austin reaffirmed that the "ironclad" defense pact covers Philippine assets anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.