Chinese coast guard ships fire water cannons and block Philippine fisheries vessel in disputed sea
Chinese coast guard ship have fired water cannons, blocked and rammed a Philippine fisheries vessel in the disputed South China Sea, where hostilities between the Asian neighbors have flared alarmingly at sea and spread into the air in recent weeks
BEIJING — Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannons and blocked and rammed a Philippine fisheries vessel Sunday in the disputed South China Sea, where hostilities between the Asian neighbors have flared alarmingly at sea and spread into the air in recent weeks.
China and the Philippines blamed each other for the tense confrontations in the high seas off Sabina Shoal, which has become a new flashpoint, where both have deployed coast guard ships on suspicion that either one may take steps to seize the uninhabited atoll.
The Chinese coast guard said that it took action against a Philippine vessel, which entered waters in the vicinity of Sabina and ignored warnings, leading to a minor collision.
Chinese coast guard spokesperson Gan Yu said that the Philippine ship sailed toward the Chinese coast guard ship “unprofessionally” and “dangerously,” causing the two vessels to brush against each other. The Philippine vessel had journalists onboard to take pictures to “distort facts,” he said.
«The responsibility is totally on the Philippines’ side. We sternly warn that the Philippine side must immediately stop the infringement and provocation, otherwise it must bear all consequences,” Gan said without elaborating on the control measures that the Chinese side employed.
A Philippine government task force said that a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the BRP Datu Sanday, “encountered aggressive and dangerous maneuvers from eight People’s Republic of China
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