MANILA: Philippine and Chinese coastguards reported conflicting versions of a maritime confrontation around a contested shoal in the South China Sea, the latest row in a longstanding dispute between the two neighbours.
China’s Coast Guard said four Philippine ships had attempted to enter China’s territorial waters around the Scarborough Shoal.
Philippine ships had “dangerously approached” China Coast Guard “normal law enforcement patrol vessels”, prompting China’s “exercised control” over their counterparts, Liu Dejun, a coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement.
But the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Chinese navy and coastguard vessels had taken “aggressive actions” against a routine patrol by it and the fisheries bureau.
A Chinese coastguard vessel fired a water cannon and sideswiped a PCG vessel, while Philippine vessels faced “blocking, shadowing, and dangerous manoeuvres” from Chinese navy and coastguard ships, a PCG spokesperson said.
