This handout taken and released on December 4, 2024 by the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) shows a China Coast Guard ship (R) deploying water cannon at the Phillipine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel BRP Datu Pagbuaya (L) near Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China’s coast guard accused the Philippines of making “bogus accusations” after Manila said it had fired water cannon and “sideswiped” a Philippine government vessel in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday.

The Philippine vessel “turned at a great angle and reversed, deliberately colliding” with a Chinese ship, a statement read, adding that Manila had “later deliberately distorted the truth and made bogus accusations in an attempt to mislead international understanding”.

The Philippines said the China Coast Guard fired water cannon and “sideswiped” a government vessel Wednesday during a maritime patrol near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, after Beijing said it had “exercised control” over the ship.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries — including the Philippines — and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Vessels from the two sides have clashed frequently in the past year, resulting in injuries and damages.

Tensions flared again on Wednesday, with Manila releasing a video appearing to show a Chinese coast guard hitting the right side of fisheries department vessel BRP Datu Pagbuaya, with the crew shouting, “Collision! Collision!”.

The Chinese ship “fired a water cannon… aiming directly at the vessel’s navigational antennas”, the Philippine coast guard and fisheries ministry said in a joint statement.

The Chinese vessel then “intentionally sideswiped” the ship before launching a second water cannon attack, the statement said.

China’s coast guard said in a statement that Philippine ships “came dangerously close” and that its actions had been “in accordance with the law”, but gave no further details about the manoeuvres it used during the incident.

“On December 4, Philippine Coast Guard ships… attempted to intrude into China’s territorial waters around Huangyan Island,” coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said, using the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal.

The shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks — has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.

Since then, Beijing has deployed patrol boats that Manila says harass Philippine vessels and prevent Filipino fishermen from accessing a fish-rich lagoon there.

The shoal lies 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.

Members of the media take footage of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel blocking a Philippine Coast Guard vessel on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Philippines on April 27 denied a Chinese claim that the two countries had reached an agreement over an escalating maritime dispute in the South China Sea, calling the claim propaganda.

A spokesperson at China’s embassy in Manila said on April 18 that the two had agreed early this year to a “new model” in managing tensions at the Second Thomas Shoal, without elaborating.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on April 27 his department was “not aware of, nor is it a party to, any internal agreement with China” since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022. Defence department officials have not spoken to any Chinese officials since last year, Mr. Teodoro said in a statement.

China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Teodoro’s comments outside office hours.

Beijing and Manila have repeatedly clashed in recent months at the submerged reef, which Philippines says is in its exclusive economic zone but which China also claims.

The Philippines had accused China of blocking manoeuvres and firing water cannons at its vessels to disrupt supply missions to Filipino soldiers stationed in a naval ship which Manila deliberately grounded in 1999 to bolster its maritime claims.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its claims overlap with those of the Philippines and four other nations. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing rejects.

Mr. Teodoro called China’s claims of a bilateral agreement “part of the Chinese propaganda”, adding that the Philippines would never enter into any agreement that would compromise its claims in the waterway.

“The narrative that unnamed or unidentified Chinese officials are propagating is another crude attempt to advance a falsehood,” he said.

In this photo released by ASEAN via the Australian Government, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Enrique A. Manalo addresses a forum on maritime cooperation at the ASEAN Special Summit, in Melbourne on March 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo told AFP on Monday that his country wants to solve maritime disputes with China peacefully — but delivered a simple message to Beijing: “stop harassing us”.

Speaking on the sidelines of an ASEAN-Australia summit in Melbourne, Mr. Manalo defended his government’s policy of publicising Chinese manoeuvres in contested maritime territory — including the recent passage of warships near Scarborough Shoal.

“It’s merely trying to inform the people of what’s going on,” Mr. Manalo said. “And some countries or one country at least has some difficulty with that.”

“But our simple explanation is if you would stop harassing us and, and perhaps performing other actions, there wouldn’t be any news to report.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory, brushing aside claims from a host of Southeast Asian nations.

Also Read | China, Philippines agree to lower tensions on South China Sea confrontations

Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the disputed South China Sea — has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.

Philippine governments have tried to rally international and regional support to their cause — with mixed results.

“The Philippines is committed to a peaceful resolution of disputes through diplomatic means, or peaceful means,” Mr. Manalo said, while insisting “this will not be done at the expense of our national interest.”

“We are reaching out to partners in like-minded countries with similar issues and similar concerns.”

But Mr. Manalo acknowledged there was at least a small question mark over support from the Philippines’ most important security partner — the United States.

The two countries are treaty allies, meaning Washington has formally pledged to come to Manila’s defence in the event of a military conflict.

Ask about the November election — which will pit incumbent Joe Biden against Republican firebrand Donald Trump, he said it was a topic of frequent debate behind closed doors.

“Every country in the world is probably thinking of that, of course. The United States is a major, it’s a treaty ally of the Philippines. So obviously, any differences or changes in U.S. policy from existing policies would most likely have some kind of effect.”

“At this stage it’s fairly difficult to assess how it would happen, or what would happen,” he said.

“But all I can say is we are, of course, carefully monitoring the election season in the United States, but I’ve had talks with many of my other colleagues from other countries, and I think everybody is doing the same.”

“So certainly all eyes will be riveted on that election this year.”