China Water-Cannons Philippine Ships Near Scarborough Shoal
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- Chinese coast guard fired water cannons at two Philippine fisheries vessels Friday near Scarborough Shoal — the third confrontation in disputed waters that week, according to the Philippine coast guard.
- A Chinese coast guard ship approached the BRP Datux Paduhinog, a Philippine government fisheries vessel, within seven meters (23 feet) in what Manila called a "reckless" maneuver that risked collision.
- The standoffs dominated the ASEAN foreign ministers' three-day closed-door talks in Manila, where the 11-nation bloc issued a joint communique expressing concerns about "serious incidents" and "damage to the marine environment."
- ASEAN also welcomed "significant progress" in code-of-conduct negotiations with China and said it aims to conclude the proposed nonaggression pact this year.
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines Wednesday and called a Monday Second Thomas Shoal clash — in which two Filipino navy men were injured by wooden poles wielded by Chinese personnel — "escalatory."
- On Thursday, two more Philippine fisheries vessels were harassed near Scarborough Shoal, with one nearly hit by a water cannon, according to the Philippine coast guard.
- China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a key global trade route, despite a 2016 arbitration ruling under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that invalidated Beijing's expansive claims.
Why it matters: Manila hosted ASEAN foreign ministers while its own fishermen were being fired upon within sight of the negotiating room, exposing the gap between diplomatic language about a 'code of conduct' and the reality of three water-cannon run-ins in one week. For the Philippines — Washington's oldest Asian treaty ally — Rubio's in-person warning to Wang Yi signals Washington is treating every ramming incident as a bilateral flashpoint with Beijing rather than a regional fishing spat.
