MANILA: The Philippines said one person was injured Tuesday when a water cannon attack by a China Coast Guard vessel shattered a window on the bridge of a fisheries bureau ship near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Two Chinese ships used water cannons while in pursuit of the BRP Datu Gumbay Piang as it delivered rations to Filipino fishermen near the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman said in a statement.
The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the crucial waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
“This aggressive action lasted for about 29 minutes, resulting in significant damage, including shattered glass from the aft window of the bridge” and “damage to the captain’s cabin partitions,” said Commodore Jay Tarriela.
A crewmember of the Filipino vessel “sustained injuries due to the shattered glass caused by the water cannon,” said Tarriela, the coast guard’s spokesman for South China Sea issues.
A picture released by the Philippine coast guard showed a man with what appeared to be a lacerated ear.
The China Coast Guard on Tuesday evening released its own statement saying the Philippine ship had “deliberately rammed” a Chinese vessel.
Chinese ships had “taken control measures” on multiple vessels that had “insisted on illegally invading China’s territorial waters of Huangyan Dao,” China’s name for the Scarborough Shoal, they said.
An accompanying video showed the Philippine vessel — caught between two China Coast Guard ships — making contact with one of the Chinese ships after it was hit by the water cannon.
Tariella said the Filipino boat later sailed to a “safer position” away from the shoal following the encounter, which caused a short circuit aboard the vessel.
More than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the South China Sea.
Last month, a Chinese navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near Scarborough Shoal.
China seized control of the fish-rich shoal from the Philippines after a lengthy standoff in 2012.
Philippines says one injured in China Coast Guard water cannon attack
https://arab.news/92h56
Philippines says one injured in China Coast Guard water cannon attack
- The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the crucial waterway
- A crewmember of the Filipino vessel “sustained injuries due to the shattered glass caused by the water cannon,” said Tarriela
UK warship to leave for Cyprus next week: officials
- HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer, will sail to aid Britain’s “defensive operations”
- Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources
LONDON: A UK warship due to be sent to Cyprus amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran will not set sail from Britain until next week, Western officials said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he was deploying HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer to aid Britain’s “defensive operations” in the region.
Starmer also said he was sending two Wildcat helicopters with counter-drone capabilities.
The announcement came after several drone attacks from Iran targeted UK allies in the Middle East and after the UK Royal Air Force base Akrotiri was struck overnight Sunday to Monday.
Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources after the war started on Saturday with no British warship in the region.
The destroyer is being resupplied with ammunition and will sail next week, the officials told reporters in London.
“We’ve had to change weapon systems on it, finish welding, get it up and running, and get it sailing as fast as possible,” Defense Minister Al Carns told Sky News.
Its voyage to the eastern Mediterranean is expected to take several days.
Starmer refused to allow the Americans to use UK air bases to launch the initial strikes on Iran on Saturday.
He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases — one in southwest England and the other in the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean — for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.”
The officials said Wednesday that US bombers have not yet used those bases to launch missions but they are expected to do so in the coming days.
They also said that the drone, which caused little damage and no casualties when it hit the runway at Akrotiri, had not been launched from Iran.
A Cypriot government source said Monday that the drones had been launched from Lebanon, “most likely” by Hezbollah, a historical ally of Iran in the Middle East.
