China Coast Guard sideswipes PH vessel

The Philippines said the China Coast Guard fired water cannon and "sideswiped" a government vessel Wednesday during a maritime patrol near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, after Beijing said it had "exercised control" over the ship. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries -- including the Philippines -- and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. Vessels from the two sides have clashed frequently in the past year, resulting in injuries and damages. Tensions flared again on Wednesday, with Manila releasing a video appearing to show a Chinese coast guard hitting the right side of fisheries department vessel BRP Datu Pagbuaya, with the crew shouting, "Collision! Collision!". The Chinese ship "fired a water cannon... aiming directly at the vessel's navigational antennas", the Philippine coast guard and fisheries ministry said in a joint statement. The Chinese vessel then "intentionally sideswiped" the ship before launching a second water cannon attack, the statement said. China's coast guard said in a statement that Philippine ships "came dangerously close" and that its actions had been "in accordance with the law", but gave no further details about the manoeuvres it used during the incident. "On December 4, Philippine Coast Guard ships... attempted to intrude into China's territorial waters around Huangyan Island," coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said, using the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal. The shoal -- a triangular chain of reefs and rocks -- has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Since then, Beijing has deployed patrol boats that Manila says harass Philippine vessels and prevent Filipino fishermen from accessing a fish-rich lagoon there. Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch full episodes on iWantTFC for FREE here: http://iwanttfc.com Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abscbnnews