BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines on Tuesday accused China’s coast guard of harassing and damaging one of its boats in a disputed area of the South China Sea, and rejected Beijing’s position that it had expelled two ships from the highly contested shoal.
The Philippine coast guard said its two ships held steady at Scarborough Shoal, a major battleground in the South China Sea, but one of them suffered damage due to the use of water cannons by two Chinese coast guard ships.
“This damage serves as proof of the strong water pressure used by the Chinese coast guard in harassing Philippine vessels,” Philippine coast guard spokesman Jay Tarriela said in a statement.
“They have not been deterred and will continue to carry out their legitimate operations to support Filipino fishermen and ensure their safety.”
No country has sovereignty over the strategically located Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing spot used by several countries and close to major shipping routes. The sandbar is within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
China has occupied the atoll for more than a decade and the waters around its lagoon, which has long been a sanctuary for ships during storms, have been the scene of multiple clashes in recent years.
China’s coast guard said the ships had been expelled, but did not provide details of the incident.
Filipino Tarriela said his ship, the BRP Bagacay, suffered damage to the bulwark and roof and that China had installed a floating barrier at the entrance to the sandbar, “effectively restricting access to the area.”
The two countries have exchanged accusations of illegal conduct on the shoal and the Philippines recently summoned a Chinese diplomat to explain what they call aggressive maneuvers. China typically accuses the Philippines of invading its territory.
China and the Philippines have previously said they would seek better communications and management around skirmishes in the vast South China Sea, but tensions have risen recently as the Philippines forges stronger diplomatic and military ties with the United States ally.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 billion in annual maritime trade, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said in 2016 that China’s expansive claim had no legal basis, a decision Beijing rejected.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Mikhail Flors and Neil Jerome Morales in Manila; writing by Bernard Orr and Mikhail Flores; editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry, Martin Petty)
