Chinese vessels fired water cannon at Philippine ships, including one carrying a CNN crew, near Scarborough Shoal on Friday, marking the third tense standoff in the South China Sea this week.
CNN had exclusive access aboard a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel on a mission to deliver fuel to local fishermen near the shoal, a sandbar claimed by both China and the Philippines.
As the ships neared the area, several larger China Coast Guard vessels closed in, close enough for the crew to see personnel aboard clearly, while a loudspeaker warning ordered the Philippine ship to leave immediately or face firm legal action. The Chinese vessel circled continuously as its water cannon struck the ship.
The mission was ultimately called off Friday as the Philippine ships turned back toward port, officially due to an approaching typhoon. Tensions eased once the ships retreated, though Chinese vessels remained visible shadowing them hours later.
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Philippine authorities said 15 Chinese vessels, from both its coast guard and so-called maritime militia, took part, against 10 Philippine ships, three of them coast guard vessels, with a small government aircraft also flying low over the scene.
The Philippine Coast Guard said its vessels endured repeated water cannon strikes and dangerous maneuvers, with one Chinese ship coming within about 23 feet of the vessel carrying the CNN crew, creating what officials called a serious collision risk.
China’s state broadcaster, meanwhile, reported that its coast guard had taken lawful enforcement action against Philippine vessels it said were operating illegally in Chinese-claimed waters around what China calls Huangyan Island. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told CNN the actions were legitimate, professional and beyond reproach.
Scarborough Shoal sits roughly 140 miles off the Philippine island of Luzon and about 530 miles from China’s Hainan province. Though claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan, China has maintained effective control through a near-constant coast guard presence since 2012.
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Friday’s clash capped a week of escalating friction. On Monday, at the separately disputed Second Thomas Shoal, the Philippine military said Chinese personnel rammed a Philippine boat and exchanged blows with batons and oars near the grounded Philippine vessel BRP Sierra Madre, injuring two Philippine service members who required evacuation.
China countered that Philippine boats had aggressively rammed and attacked its personnel. A separate incident followed Thursday, when China said it drove away two Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal, while Manila said Chinese ships used water cannon and dangerous maneuvers to disrupt a resupply mission, though no injuries were reported and the mission continued.
Washington weighed in after each incident. The State Department condemned China’s actions following Monday’s clash as dangerous and aggressive, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment Thursday, saying the U.S. has a role to play and won’t abandon its allies, remarks made on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Manila.
The Philippines remains bound to the U.S. through a mutual defense treaty, obligating Washington to respond if Philippine territory, or potentially its ships at sea, come under attack.
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The scale mismatch between the two sides was evident even before Friday’s confrontation, with the roughly 90-foot Philippine vessel shadowed overnight by a Chinese coast guard ship nearly four times its size.
Beyond the Philippines and China, several other nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, hold competing claims across the South China Sea’s roughly 250 islands, reefs and atolls. A 2016 international tribunal ruling found China had no legal basis for its claims to most of the sea, a decision Chinese leader Xi Jinping rejected, continuing to build military installations and artificial islands in contested waters despite earlier assurances he wouldn’t.
