Philippine sailors threw “fire bombs” and brandished knives at Chinese Government vessels during a dispute over contested fishing grounds in the South China Sea, Beijing said on Tuesday. Philippine media this week said local fishermen had been rammed by the Chinese coast guard while fishing off Scarborough Shoal, which China has occupied since a 2012 stand-off but which lies within the Philippines’ claimed exclusive economic zone.
The incident is the latest in a series of sometimes violent disputes between China and other claimants to the South China Sea — through which about a third of all the world’s traded oil passes — that have put the region on edge. Speaking at a regular press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the Philippine fishing vessels had “defied” orders to leave the area.
“People on Philippines’ vessels even brandished knives and hurled firebombs at Chinese ships,” she said, adding that the attacks were intended to “deliberately provoke” Chinese law enforcement vessels “and seriously endanger the order and safety of Huangyan’s territorial waters.”