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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
Chinese water cannon damages ship in new South China Sea flare-up, | |
Philippines says | |
By Kathleen Magramo, Dhruv Tikekar and Brad Lendon, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:26 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
China’s coast guard fired water cannons that damaged a Philippine | |
vessel on Tuesday, marking the latest flare-up of violence between the | |
two countries in the disputed South China Sea, Philippine authorities | |
said. | |
The Philippine Coast Guard said the incident occurred as one of its | |
ships and a fisheries agency vessel carried out a “legitimate | |
patrol” near Scarborough Shoal, a Chinese-controlled rocky outcrop | |
130 miles (200 kilometers) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon | |
and inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone. | |
Video supplied by the Philippine Coast Guard showed two larger Chinese | |
vessels firing water cannons from opposite sides of the Philippine | |
ship. | |
“The Philippine vessels encountered dangerous maneuvers and | |
obstruction from four China Coast Guard vessels and six Chinese | |
Maritime Militia vessels,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson | |
Commodore Jay Tarriela said in the . | |
The Philippine Coast Guard ship suffered “damage to the railing and | |
canopy,” according to its statement. No injuries were reported. | |
In a on social platform Weibo Tuesday, the China Coast Guard said it | |
had expelled the Philippine vessels for “intruding” into the | |
waters, “in accordance with the law.” | |
in defiance of an international court ruling. Over the past two | |
decades, China has occupied a number of obscure reefs and atolls far | |
from its shoreline across the South China Sea, building up military | |
installations, including runways and ports. | |
Scarborough Shoal, which calls Huangyan Island and is also known as | |
Bajo de Masinloc, is a small but strategic reef and fertile fishing | |
ground. | |
There are no structures on the shoal, but China has maintained a | |
continuous coast guard presence around it since 2012, according to the | |
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. | |
The Philippines also said Tuesday that China had reinstalled a | |
380-meter (1,247-feet) floating barrier that “covers the entire | |
entrance of the shoal, effectively restricting access to the area.” | |
Scarborough Shoal is one of several disputed islands and reefs in the | |
South China Sea, which have long been a flashpoint of territorial | |
disputes between the two nations. | |
In March, Chinese coast guard ships water cannons against a | |
Philippine vessel on a resupply mission to a contingent of Filipino | |
marines on another contested South China Sea feature, Second Thomas | |
Shoal, causing “heavy damages.” | |
That shoal 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 transport ship called the BRP Sierra Madre on | |
the shoal, to help enforce its claim to the area. The ship is now | |
mostly a rusted wreckage and is staffed by marines stationed on | |
rotation. | |
Following that incident, the China Coast Guard said on Weibo it had | |
taken “control measures in accordance with the law” against the | |
Philippine vessels, which it said had “illegally entered the waters | |
adjacent to Ren’ai Reef,” as Beijing calls Second Thomas Shoal. | |
Earlier in March, Chinese water cannon hit a Philippine resupply boat | |
as it headed to Second Thomas Shoal, and injuring four Filipino | |
sailors. | |
Beijing and Manila’s South China Sea disputes have heated up since | |
the 2022 election of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has | |
taken a stronger line against China than his predecessor Rodrigo | |
Duterte. | |
The clashes have also raised fears they could lead to a wider conflict, | |
as Manila maintains a mutual defense treaty with the United States, | |
which Washington says covers Philippine vessels in the disputed | |
waterway. | |
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