The China Coast Guard yesterday said that it fired water cannons at Philippine ships near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the South China Sea, accusing Manila of an “illegal” intrusion and the ramming of one of its vessels.
The confrontation comes a week after China approved plans to turn the shoal, that Taiwan also claims, into a national nature reserve, a move that defense analysts have warned would test Manila’s response over the 150km2 triangular chain of reefs and rocks.
The Philippine Coast Guard in turn accused its Chinese counterpart of harassing vessels it said were on a humanitarian mission to support fishers.
Photo: AFP / Philippine Coast Guard
Yesterday’s encounter involved more than 10 Philippine ships, China Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu (甘羽) said, accusing the vessels of having “illegally invaded China’s territorial waters of the Scarborough Shoal from different directions.”
In particular, he faulted Philippine Coast Guard vessel 3014, saying in a statement that it had “disregarded solemn warnings from the Chinese side and deliberately rammed a Chinese coast guard vessel.”
“The China Coast Guard lawfully implemented control measures against the Philippine ships,” he added.
These included measures such as verbal warnings, route restrictions and water cannon spraying, Gan said.
The Philippine Coast Guard in a statement said that it was engaged in a mission to resupply more than 35 Philippine fishing boats at the shoal when they encountered “aggressive actions” by nine Chinese vessels, and made no mention of water cannon.
Simmering tension over the shoal have led to diplomatic rows, but no incidents have escalated into armed conflict.
Both sides accuse each other of provocations and trespassing in incidents featuring use of water cannon, boat-ramming and maneuvers by the China Coast Guard, as well as jets shadowing Philippine aircraft.
A spokesperson for the Philippine Maritime Council said there was “no truth” in China’s statement that it had taken control measures, which it dismissed as “another case of Chinese disinformation and propaganda.”
Analysts have said Beijing’s plan to categorize the shoal as a nature reserve amounted to trying to take the moral high ground in the dispute over the atoll.
The dispute is part of a contest over sovereignty and fishing access in the South China Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over the ownership of various islands and features.
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