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Agence France-Presse
Posted at 02/24/2014 2:53 PM | Updated as of 02/24/2014 5:03 PM
MANILA - The Philippines' military chief on Monday accused China's coast guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen for the first time to drive them away from a disputed sea shoal.
General Emmanuel Bautista said Chinese vessels fired cannon on January 27 near Scarborough Shoal -- the subject of a bitter territorial row in the strategically important South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
"The Chinese coast guard tried to drive away Filipino fishing vessels to the extent of using water cannon," Bautista told a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
He did not say if anyone was hurt and added that China continues to maintain an armed coast guard and other vessels at the shoal.
Chinese embassy spokesmen could not be contacted for comment.
Scarborough Shoal lies 220 kilometers (135 miles) off the main Philippine island of Luzon. It is about 650 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese land mass.
In April 2012, the Philippines and China had a tense standoff which ended with the former retreating from the shoal -- a rich fishing area.
China has occupied the shoal as part of its claim to most of the South China Sea including waters near the coasts of its neighbors.
link:
PH says China fired water cannon at fishermen in Scarborough | ABS-CBN News
Posted at 02/24/2014 2:53 PM | Updated as of 02/24/2014 5:03 PM
MANILA - The Philippines' military chief on Monday accused China's coast guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen for the first time to drive them away from a disputed sea shoal.
General Emmanuel Bautista said Chinese vessels fired cannon on January 27 near Scarborough Shoal -- the subject of a bitter territorial row in the strategically important South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
"The Chinese coast guard tried to drive away Filipino fishing vessels to the extent of using water cannon," Bautista told a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
He did not say if anyone was hurt and added that China continues to maintain an armed coast guard and other vessels at the shoal.
Chinese embassy spokesmen could not be contacted for comment.
Scarborough Shoal lies 220 kilometers (135 miles) off the main Philippine island of Luzon. It is about 650 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese land mass.
In April 2012, the Philippines and China had a tense standoff which ended with the former retreating from the shoal -- a rich fishing area.
China has occupied the shoal as part of its claim to most of the South China Sea including waters near the coasts of its neighbors.
link:
PH says China fired water cannon at fishermen in Scarborough | ABS-CBN News