China's coast guard said that a Philippine crew "attacked Chinese law staff with?"paddles and sticks" on Monday during an encounter with Chinese law personnel in the South China Sea. Manila had accused Chinese personnel of aggressively hitting one of their navies in the head with a wooden baton.

China's coast guard released a statement saying that the Philippine side launched two rubber boats from a warship China claimed was "illegally anchored" on the Second Thomas Shoal dispute when a small China Coast Guard patrol boat was engaged in routine patrol.

It said that the 'Philippine rubber boat ignored'repeated and explicitly warnings from 'the Chinese side and "rapidly approached, encircled, and rammed a chinese patrol boat in a dangerous way". Beijing Newsroom, Aidan Lewis (Editing)

(source: Reuters)