Dramatic footage shows two Chinese government ships violently colliding Monday while chasing down a Filipino coast guard vessel in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The Philippines is not out to instigate conflict in the South China Sea but will continue to defend its sovereign rights when challenged, Malacañang said, days after Chinese forces harassed the Philippine Coast Guard in the waters near and the air above Scarborough Shoal.

It’s hard to call the collision of two multi-thousand-ton military ships “fortunate,” but that’s exactly what analysts are saying about the incident in the South China Sea this week that left a China Coast Guard ship with a heavily damaged bow after it hit a People’s Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer.

The Philippines expressed serious concern on Tuesday over what it called "dangerous manoeuvres and unlawful interference" by Chinese vessels during a coast guard supply mission for Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.