MANILA, Philippines (AP) 鈥 Chinese coast guard vessels backed by navy ships fired powerful water cannons and blocked and sideswiped a Philippine patrol vessel on Wednesday in renewed aggression at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said.
Philippine coast guard and bureau of fisheries vessels were on routine patrol to protect Filipino fishermen at when several Chinese coast guard and navy ships approached and staged 鈥渁ggressive actions鈥 after dawn, the Philippine coast guard said.
The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessels encroached into China's territory prompting it to take action based on a law, which it did not specify. It said without offering any proof that a Philippine vessel maneuvered in a way that led to a collision.
鈥淭he Philippines, under the banner of fishing and protecting fishermen, carried out infringement and provocation and then reversed black and white and blamed others in an attempt to mislead international perception,鈥 Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said. 鈥淲e warn the Philippines to immediately stop infringement and provocation and incitement and hype, otherwise, all the consequences caused by this will be borne by the Philippines.鈥
The United States condemned China's 鈥渦nlawful use of water cannons and dangerous maneuvers.鈥 U.S. Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson said on the social media platform X that the Chinese maneuvers disrupted a Philippine maritime operation and 鈥減ut lives at risk.鈥
鈥淲e condemn these actions and stand with our like-minded friends, partners, allies in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,鈥 Carlson said.
颁丑颈苍补鈥檚 reported actions in the disputed waters came after a respite of more than a month while prevented many Philippine fishing and commercial vessels from venturing into dangerously rough seas.
Despite the Chinese ships鈥 鈥渞eckless鈥 maneuvers, the Philippines coast guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource said they renewed their 鈥渃ommitment to protecting the rights and safety of our fishermen within our maritime jurisdiction."
鈥淲e will continue to be vigilant in safeguarding our national interests in the West Philippine Sea,鈥 the two Philippine law enforcement agencies said, using the Philippine name for the seas off the archipelago's western coast.
The Chinese maritime maneuvers 鈥渁re not standard law enforcement actions,鈥 Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said, adding they 鈥渟hould be interpreted as unlawful aggression by international law violators.鈥
颁丑颈苍补鈥檚 cover virtually the entire waterway and overlap with the territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and high seas claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Indonesia has also had confrontations with the Chinese coast guard, which backs Beijing鈥檚 fishing fleets.
On Wednesday, one of the Philippine vessels, BRP Datu Pagbuaya, was hit by high-pressure water fired from a Chinese coast guard ship with bow number 3302 which targeted its navigational antennas about 16 nautical miles (30 kilometers) south of Scarborough, Manila鈥檚 coast guard said.
Shortly after, the Chinese coast guard ship 鈥渋ntentionally sideswiped the BRP Datu Pagbuaya on its starboard side鈥 and then 鈥渓aunched a second water cannon attack on the same vessel,鈥 it said.
Philippine coast guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua 鈥渇aced blocking, shadowing and dangerous maneuvers鈥 by two Chinese navy and coast guard ships, it said. Another Philippine coast guard ship, the BRP Cabra, 鈥渨as subjected to reckless maneuvers鈥 by a Chinese coast guard ship at a distance of about 300 yards (274 meters), Philippine coast guard officials said.
At a news conference Wednesday, Philippine coast guard and national security officials showed videos of the Chinese coast guard's use of water cannon and maneuvers close to the Philippine vessels.
The long-simmering territorial disputes are a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China rivalry in the region. The U.S. lays no claims in the waters, which are a key global shipping route, but has declared that freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of the conflicts are in its core national interests.
The U.S. has warned that it鈥檚 obligated to defend the Philippines, a treaty ally, if Filipino forces come under attack in the South China Sea.
