China coast guard water-cannons Philippine ship days after US backs Manila in disputed sea

Hong Kong CNN —

China’s coast guard used water cannon against Philippine boats in a contested area of the South China Sea on Saturday, the latest in a string of maritime clashes between the two countries.

The skirmish comes just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Washington’s commitment to defending Philippine access to the vast waterway, which China claims sovereignty over, sparking increasing clashes with its neighbors in recent years.

Video of the incident showed a Philippine civilian vessel taking “heavy damage” from the water cannon, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The AFP also accused the Chinese coast guard of performing a “dangerous maneuver” by crossing the bow of the resupply vessel before using the water cannon.

It said China subsequently installed floating barriers to “prevent further entry of any vessels.”

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A Philippine Coast Guard vessel had been “impeded and encircled” by a Chinese coast guard ship and two Chinese “maritime militia” vessels, the agency said, cutting it off from the resupply boat.

The ship was “isolated from the resupply boat due to the irresponsible and provocative behavior of the Chinese maritime forces, who have shown a disregard for the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a post on X.

Beijing and Manila have long contested the Second Thomas Shoal, which sits about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the coast of the Philippine island of Palawan. In the 1990s the Philippines grounded an aging World War II-era navy