I hid in Philippine ship as the Chinese attacked
Beijing uses water cannon tactics in disputed South China Sea territory that risks inflaming tensions ‘The Chinese veered so close that the Filipino captains had to take evasive action’
I WAS standing on the deck of a Philippine Coast Guard ship when a Chinese vessel opened fire with its water cannon.
The powerful jets of water initially looped into the air – but in seconds they had begun to batter our craft, pounding on the stern of the ship.
There were moments of chaos: Filipino crew members dived for cover, screaming instructions to each other. A small team of journalists, including myself, ducked inside a narrow passageway as water sprayed in all directions. The crew dragged the most precious bits of equipment – and the ship’s American Bulldog named Six – under the steel roof of the passageway.
For five minutes the Chinese ships circled around our ship, which took evasive action to try and weave between them, while constantly firing the water cannon.
This was a rare first-hand example of the kind of intimidation tactics Beijing has deployed to prevent Filippino authorities from accessing the Scarborough Shoal, a valuable fishing territory that falls within the Philippines’ borders but China now lays claim to.
The ship’s canopy broke in the intensity of the strike and the vessel took two more direct hits under a sustained assault of about half an hour.
Then after another half an hour our ship turned around and returned to join a smaller ship about 12 nautical miles behind us.
The Telegraph was on board the 40-metre-long Filipino ship, BRP Bagacay, which was tasked with protecting the BRP Datu Bankaw, delivering supplies of fuel and food to local fishermen.
The Datu Bankaw was also penetrated by a water cannon and rammed on its side by a Chinese ship, partially flooding its interior. Its radar was damaged in the confrontation.
Chinese authorities are working aggressively to deny Filipino fishing communities access to the shoal, which yesterday was ringed by a floating barrier.
In carrying out the mission on Monday, Manila was signalling to
Beijing its intent to assert its claims over the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by both countries but lies much closer to the Philippines.
The shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks covering 58 square miles, including an inner lagoon, was administered by the Philippines until 2012 when China effectively seized control after a standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels. The incident led to a landmark international arbitration case brought by Manila that successfully challenged Beijing’s historical claims to most of the South China Sea, including the shoal.
The International Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims over the resourcerich South China Sea were invalid.
But Beijing has ignored the court’s decision, continuing to beef up its patchwork of military outposts on artificial islands, while dispatching its so-called maritime militia, coast guard vessels and navy to intimidate rival Southeast Asian claimants to the waters and its features.
Soaked by spray and bunkering down by the door to the ship’s deck to evade the high-powered water jet, I saw first-hand how behaviour by the China Coast Guard (CCG) could trigger an accident that could quickly escalate. The journalists and Filipino crew huddled in the dark narrow corridor as the jet stream pounded heavily on the exterior of the ship, at its peak resembling a tropical storm.
It was alarming to see the lengths the Chinese coast guard flotilla went to in order to prevent access to the shoal.
All morning, they had played a high-stakes game of maritime cat and mouse as they tailed the two Filipino ships for about three hours. The first Chinese coast guard ship was spotted as dawn broke just after 5am.
As the Filipino convoy came within 24 nautical miles of the shoal, China pursued it at high speeds and intermittently cut directly in front of the ship’s bow. The Chinese veered so close that the Filipino captains had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
The Chinese vessels’ purpose was evidently to block their path and to isolate the two Filipino ships, and to do so, they performed dangerous and intimidating manoeuvres to try to force them back towards the coast.
The Filipinos were outnumbered, pursued by at least five coast guard ships, while a Chinese navy ship sailed parallel and watched from a distance.
Our crew had been in radio contact with the CCG, reading out a statement asserting the Philippines’ claims to the shoal. The CCG eventually pulled back and as the Bagacay came within 1,000 yards of the southern entrance of the shoal, it spotted a 380-metre barrier of white buoys. Then, the Chinese pounced, attacking the ship with a water cannon from both sides.
The Philippine coast guard said its “encountered dangerous manoeuvres and obstruction” from the vessels.
The confrontation was not a rare incident in the South China Sea. Philippine crews – this time – were unscathed, but such incidents are a risk they frequently face, on the front line of tensions that many fear could spark the next international conflict.