South China Sea: Philippines rebukes Beijing for ‘recklessly harassing’ its boats

Manila accused the Chinese coastguard of firing water cannon at a boat carrying supplies to Filipino troops on a remote outpost in Second Thomas Shoal

Beijing said it ‘took control measures’ against two Philippine ships and three coastguard vessels it insisted were in Chinese waters

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A Philippine boat sails near a Chinese coastguard ship during a resupply mission in the South China Sea on October 4. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:01pm, 10 Nov 2023Updated: 1:28pm, 10 Nov 2023

The Philippines accused the Chinese coastguard on Friday of “dangerous harassment” of Filipino boats in the disputed South China Sea, including firing a water cannon.

The latest incident near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands comes nearly three weeks after two collisions between Chinese and Philippine vessels during a resupply mission to the same tiny garrison.

The countries, which have a long history of maritime disputes in the hotly contested waters, traded blame for those incidents.

On Friday, Manila said the Chinese coastguard and other vessels “recklessly harassed, blocked, executed dangerous manoeuvres” as they tried to “illegally impede or obstruct a routine resupply” of Filipino troops at the outpost.

The Philippines’ National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said in a statement a Chinese coastguard vessel had also fired a water cannon against a Philippine boat.

The task force said the Philippine embassy in Beijing lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry over the incident.

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