The problem is that coral doenst grow back after severe damage.
To cut a long story short, have a look at Truk on google earth, where channels were gouged and blasted in WW2. Id expect the Chinese ship to have gouged huge sections out of the reef and pulverised the rest it came into contact with.
Its sad to think of how unguarded and unmonitored our coast line is. Theres 36000k of it, we need a coast guard.