MANILA: The Philippines fisheries bureau accused the China Coast Guard on Thursday (May 22) of firing water cannon and sideswiping a Filipino government vessel while it collected sand for a research project.
China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely, despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
Wednesday’s encounter happened near a group of small sandbanks in the Spratly Islands where two Filipino ships were collecting sand samples “as part of a marine scientific research initiative”, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said in a statement.
“At approximately 9.13am, China Coast Guard vessel 21559 water cannoned and sideswiped the BRP Datu Sanday (MMOV 3002) twice … putting at risk the lives of its civilian personnel.”
It was the first time water cannons were used against Philippine vessels near the disputed Sandy Cay reef, the bureau added.
The “aggressive interference, dangerous manoeuvres, and illegal acts” damaged the Philippine ship’s port bow and smokestack, according to the bureau’s statement.
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