South China Sea: Philippines accuses Chinese Coast Guard of shooting water cannon on its boats

The Philippines accused the Chinese coast guard of using water cannons to “obstruct” three government boats delivering provisions to Filipino fishermen near a China-controlled reef in the South China Sea. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea stated that “Chinese Coast Guard ships utilized water cannons to obstruct” government vessels delivering fuel and food supplies to fishing boats. This incident occurred near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area between Manila and Beijing, as both claim sovereignty over almost the entire waterway. A video released by the Philippine Coast Guard depicted China Coast Guard ships using water cannons on Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels, hitting them with powerful blasts of water. China took control of Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012, and since then, Beijing has deployed patrol boats that Manila claims harass Philippine vessels and prevent Filipino fishermen from reaching the lagoon where fish are more abundant. Scarborough Shoal is 240 kilometres (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometres from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan. Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China helped negotiate, countries have jurisdiction over the natural resources within about 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) of their shore. With inputs from AFP.