Filipino fisherman to China's coast guard on disputed shoal: `This is Philippine territory. Go away'

abcnews.go.com:

A Filipino fishing boat captain is protesting the Chinese coast guard’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea where he asserts that Chinese officers forcibly drove him and his men away from a disputed shoal

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino fishing boat captain protested on Tuesday the Chinese coast guard’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea, where he asserted that Chinese officers drove him and his men away from a disputed shoal and ordered them to dump their catch in the sea.

The face-to-face confrontation on Jan. 12, which Joely Saligan and his men reported to Manila’s coast guard after returning from the voyage, is testing efforts by China and the Philippines to deescalate tensions around a potential Asian flashpoint.

At a Jan. 17 meeting in Shanghai, Beijing and Manila agreed to take steps to ease tensions after a year of high-seas confrontations between their ships in one of the world's busiest seas. The hostilities have sparked fears of a major armed conflict that could involve Washington, Manila’s longtime treaty ally.

The fishermen, led by Saligan, reported to the Philippine coast guard that Chinese coast guard personnel drove them away from the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines and ordered them to dump their catch of fish and seashells.

The confrontation happened on a coral outcrop that juts out of the sea like an islet at low tide. Saligan and his men took a dinghy from their mother boat and went to collect seashells and fish for food. However, they said five Chinese coast guard personnel, three of them armed with steel batons, followed by boat, landed on the islet and ordered the fishermen to leave immediately.

One Chinese officer tried to confiscate the cellphone of a