On Tuesday (September 16), the Chinese Coast Guard sprayed water cannons at several Philippine vessels in the disputed waters of Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The Philippines accused China of taking “provocative” actions, resulting in damage to a fishing support vessel and injuring one person, escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The Chinese Coast Guard claimed that on that day, more than 10 Philippine vessels “illegally intruded” into the waters of Scarborough Shoal, with Philippine patrol ship number 3014 “ignoring Chinese warnings and deliberately colliding with Chinese Coast Guard vessels”. They stated that the Chinese Coast Guard implemented “control measures” such as verbal warnings, route restrictions, and water cannons against the Philippine vessels.
In response, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) stated that the Chinese accusations were “baseless”. They mentioned that the Philippine vessels were conducting a “humanitarian supply mission” to provide provisions to 35 fishing vessels when they encountered “aggressive actions” from nine Chinese vessels. Two Chinese Coast Guard ships sprayed water cannons at vessel 3014, causing severe damage and one person to be injured by broken glass.
A spokesperson for the Philippine Maritime Council denounced China’s claims of “control actions” as entirely false, labelling them as “yet another instance of misinformation and propaganda”.
A week before this conflict, the Chinese government designated Scarborough Shoal as a “national-level natural reserve”. The Philippines subsequently lodged a formal diplomatic protest, accusing China of infringing on Philippine sovereignty and violating international law.
Scarborough Shoal is an area comprised of a triangular reef and lagoon covering approximately 150 square kilometers, located within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). China refers to it as “Huangyan Island,” while the Philippines calls it “Panatag Shoal.”
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea did not align with international law and that Scarborough Shoal had no basis for sovereignty. Despite the ruling in favor of the Philippines, China refused to acknowledge it and continued to dispatch Coast Guard ships to patrol the area.
In recent years, conflicts between the two countries have arisen due to incidents such as water cannon firings, collisions, and instances of aircraft tailing, leading to ongoing diplomatic tensions. The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with over $3 trillion in goods passing through annually, making its geostrategic importance highly sensitive.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping with the Exclusive Economic Zones of other countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, in addition to the Philippines. The issues regarding the ownership of islands and reefs have remained unresolved for many years.