BEIJING — China’s Coast Guard said on Tuesday it fired a water cannon at Philippine ships near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, and the Philippines accused Beijing of “aggressive” action that injured one person.
The confrontation comes a week after China approved plans to turn the shoal into a national nature reserve, a move that defence analysts have said would test Manila’s response over the 150 sq km (58 sq mile) 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 fishermen.
Tuesday’s encounter involved more than 10 Philippine ships, said Gan Yu, a spokesperson for China’s Coast Guard, accusing the vessels of having “illegally invaded China’s territorial waters of the Scarborough Shoal from different directions.”
In particular, he faulted Philippine government vessel 3014, saying in a statement 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 said.
These included measures such as verbal warnings, route restrictions and water cannon spraying, Gan said.
A video released by the Chinese Coast Guard showed the bow of Philippine vessel 3014 making contact with a Chinese ship, damaging part of the deck railing as the Chinese coast guard ship fired water cannon at the Philippine vessel.
In a statement, the Philippine Coast Guard said 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.
The PCG later said in a separate statement that two Chinese Coast Guard ships had directed water cannons at the 3014 fisheries vessel.