Philippines Accuses Chinese Vessels of Firing Water Cannon at Its Boats

The Chinese Coast Guard confronted Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last year. Credit: Renato Etac/Associated Press
The Chinese Coast Guard confronted Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last year. Credit: Renato Etac/Associated Press
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Philippines Accuses Chinese Vessels of Firing Water Cannon at Its Boats

The Chinese Coast Guard confronted Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last year. Credit: Renato Etac/Associated Press
The Chinese Coast Guard confronted Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last year. Credit: Renato Etac/Associated Press

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 Tuesday as the Philippine boats were travelling to Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands, AFP reported.

"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 defense 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."

Tensions over the resource-rich seas spiked this year after hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected at Whitsun Reef, which is also in the Spratly archipelago.

China claims almost all of the sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, with competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The contested waters also have valuable fishing grounds and are believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits.

Beijing has ignored a 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that its historical claim over most of the sea to be without basis.

-'We do not ask permission' -
China controls several reefs in the South China Sea including Scarborough Shoal -- which Beijing seized from Manila in 2012 -- and is just 240 kilometres (150 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon.

It has asserted its stance by building up small shoals and reefs into military bases with airstrips and port facilities.

After China occupied Mischief Reef in the mid-1990s, the Philippines marooned a derelict navy vessel atop the nearby Second Thomas Shoal to assert Manila's territorial claim. Members of the Philippine Marines are based there.

Locsin said the shoal was within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone, and warned China's "failure to exercise self-restraint threatens the special relationship" between the two countries.

"We do not ask permission to do what we need to do in our territory," he said.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to pivot away from the United States, the Philippines' former colonial master, towards China since taking power in 2016 and has appeared reluctant to confront Beijing.

But facing growing domestic pressure to take a harder line, Duterte has insisted Philippine sovereignty over the waters is not negotiable.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Thursday: "We will continue to assert our sovereignty... over our territory."

In July, Duterte walked back on a decision to axe a key military deal -- the Visiting Forces Agreement -- with the United States during a visit by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

In a joint statement issued this week, the two countries reaffirmed "our treaty commitments" that include "obligations to respond to an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either the United States or the Philippines."



UN Nuclear Watchdog Says US-Iran Talks at 'Very Crucial' Stage



In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
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UN Nuclear Watchdog Says US-Iran Talks at 'Very Crucial' Stage



In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)

Talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program are “in a very crucial” stage, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday while on a visit to Tehran.

The comments by Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran included an acknowledgment his agency likely would be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached. Iran and the US will meet again Saturday in Rome for a new round of talks after last weekend's first meeting in Oman, The AP news reported.

The stakes of the negotiations Saturday and the wider geopolitical tensions in the Mideast couldn't be higher, particularly as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Gaza Strip.
US President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Grossi visits during ‘crucial’ Iran-US talks Grossi arrived in Iran on Wednesday night and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who now is in Moscow for separate talks likely over the negotiations. On Thursday, Grossi met with Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, then later toured a hall featuring some of Iran's civilian nuclear projects.

“We know that we are in a very crucial, I would say, stage of this important negotiation, so I want to concentrate on the positive,” Grossi told Iranian media. “There is a possibility of a good outcome. Nothing is guaranteed. We need to make sure that we put all of the elements in place ... in order to get to this agreement."

He added: “We know we don't have much time. So this is why I'm here. This is why I'm in contact with the United States as well.”

Asked about Trump's threats to attack Iran, Grossi urged people to “concentrate on our objective.”

“Once we get to our objective, all of these things will evaporate because there will be no reason for concern,” he said.

For his part, Eslami said Iran expected the IAEA to “maintain impartiality and act professionally,” a report from the state-run IRNA news agency said.

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons, something the West and the IAEA have been worried about for years since Tehran abandoned an organized weapons program in 2003.

Despite tensions between Iran and the agency, its access has not been entirely revoked.