The Philippines on Saturday accused China's coast guard of repeatedly firing water cannons to “obstruct” three government boats near a Beijing-controlled reef in the South China Sea.
The National Task Force for the Western Philippines in a statement accused “Chinese coast guard vessels of using water cannons to impede boats” from the Philippine government supplying fishing boats.
The incident occurred near Scarborough Shoal, an area of tension between Manila and Beijing that claims almost the entire South China Sea.
In a video released by the Philippine Coast Guard, Chinese Coast Guard ships appear firing water cannons at ships belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
China took control of Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines in 2012. Since then, it has deployed patrol boats to harass Filipino ships and prevent Filipino fishermen from reaching the lagoon, which has more fish, according to Manila.
Scarborough Shoal is located 240 km west of the Philippines' main island, Luzon, and almost 900 km from Hainan Province, the nearest Chinese country.
Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China helped negotiate, countries have jurisdiction over natural resources within about 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) of their coasts.