‘Chinese vessels fired water cannons on boats’

MANILA: The Philippines on Thursday accused Chinese Coast Guard vessels of firing water cannon at boats delivering supplies to Filipino marines in the disputed South China Sea, and ordered Beijing to “back off”.

Foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin said he had expressed “outrage, condemnation and protest” to Beijing over the incident, which he said happened on Tuesday as the Philippine boats were travelling to Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands.

“Fortunately, no one was hurt; but our boats had to abort their resupply mission,” Locsin said in a statement on Twitter, describing the three Chinese vessels’ actions as “illegal”.

Locsin described the Philippine boats as “public”, suggesting they were civilian vessels, and said they were covered by a mutual defence pact with the United States.

“China has no law enforcement rights in and around these areas,” he added. “They must take heed and back off.”

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said two Filipino supply boats entered waters near the shoal “without China’s consent” and its coast guard acted lawfully to “safeguard China’s sovereignty”.

“Currently, the area around the Second Thomas Shoal is generally peaceful, and China and the Philippines are maintaining communication on this,” Zhao said, without confirming if water cannons had been used.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has deployed the most advanced version of the F-16 fighter jet in its air force, as the self-ruled island steps up its defence capabilities in the face of continuing threats from China, which claims it as part of its territory.

Tsai said the upgrade project showed the strength of Taiwan’s cooperation with the US defence industry.

This represents the steadfast promise of the Taiwan-US partnership.

On the deployment of the most advanced version of the F-16 fighter jet in Taiwan’s air force