Nicola Smith, the Telegraph’s Asia correspondent, was on Tuesday aboard a Philippine coast guard vessel accompanying fishermen near the controversial Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea when her vessel was attacked by the Chinese coast guard.
I was on the deck of a Philippine Coast Guard ship when a Chinese ship opened fire with its water cannon.
The powerful jets of water first shot into the air, but within seconds they began to hit our craft, hitting the stern of the ship.
There were moments of chaos: members of the Filipino crew dove for cover, shouting instructions to each other.
A small team of journalists, including myself, rushed through a narrow passageway as water gushed in all directions. The crew dragged the most valuable equipment – as well as the ship’s American bulldog named Six – under the passage’s steel roof.
For five minutes, the Chinese ships circled around our ship, which tried to sneak between them, while constantly firing the water cannon.
This was a rare concrete example of the kind of intimidation tactics deployed by Beijing to prevent Philippine authorities from accessing Scarborough Shoal, a valuable fishing territory located within Philippine borders that China now claims.
In the safety of the passage, all that could be heard was the roar of the water and the more frantic screams of the crew.
The ship’s canopy shattered under the intensity of the strike and the ship suffered two more direct hits during a sustained assault lasting approximately half an hour.
Then, after another half hour, our ship turned around and returned to join a smaller ship about 12 nautical miles behind us.
The Telegraph was on board the 40-metre-long Philippine ship BRP Bagacay, tasked with protecting the BRP Datu Bankaw, delivering fuel and food to local fishermen.
The Datu Bankaw was also penetrated by a water cannon and rammed on the side by a Chinese ship, partially flooding its interior. Its radar was damaged during the confrontation.
Chinese authorities are working aggressively to deny Filipino fishing communities access to the shoal, which was surrounded by a floating barrier on Tuesday.
By carrying out this mission on Monday, Manila signaled to Beijing its intention to assert its claims to the Scarborough Reef, claimed by both countries but located much closer to the Philippines.
The shoal, a chain of reefs and rocks covering 58 square miles including an interior lagoon, was administered by the Philippines until 2012, when China effectively took control of it after a standoff between Chinese ships and Filipinos.
The international incident led to a landmark international arbitration case brought by Manila which successfully challenged Beijing’s historic claims to most of the South China Seaincluding the shoal.
The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims to the entire resource-rich South China Sea were invalid.
But Beijing ignored the court’s ruling, continuing to strengthen its patchwork of military outposts on artificial islandswhile sending its so-called maritime militia, coast guard ships and navy to intimidate and oust rival Southeast Asian claimants in the waters and features.
Its growing presence in the strategic South China Sea has raised suspicions that it is working to take control of access to crucial global shipping routes in international waters.
Recent tensions between Beijing and Manila, which is strengthening its alliance with the United States under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, have raised fears that a maritime clash between the two nations could escalate into a much larger international conflict.
Drenched by the spray and slumped near the ship’s deck door to escape the high-power jet of water, I saw first-hand how dangerous behavior by the Chinese coast guard could trigger an accident that could quickly degenerate.
Journalists and the Filipino crew huddled in the narrow, dark corridor as the jet stream pounded heavily against the ship’s exterior, resembling a tropical storm at its peak.
It was alarming to see the extent to which the Chinese coast guard flotilla deployed to prevent access to the shoal.
All morning, they had played a high-stakes game of maritime cat and mouse, following the two Philippine ships for about three hours. The first Chinese coast guard vessel was spotted at dawn, shortly after 5 a.m.
As the Philippine convoy approached within 24 nautical miles of the shoal, the pursuit intensified, with China pursuing at high speed and intermittently cutting directly in front of the ship’s bow.
There were occasions when the Chinese came so close – about 20 or 30 meters – that the Filipino captains had to slow down or take evasive action to avoid a collision. Sailors waited on deck, holding orange buoys tied together to be deployed as buffers.
The crews of both sides observed each other closely. On the bridge of the Philippine Coast Guard ship, officers watched their counterparts intently through binoculars, some filming the encounter. The Chinese crew members returned the favor.
The aim of the Chinese ships was obviously to block their path and isolate the two Philippine ships and, to do this, they relentlessly carried out dangerous and intimidating maneuvers in an attempt to push them back towards the coast.
The Filipinos were outnumbered, pursued by at least five coast guard ships, while a Chinese navy ship sailed alongside and kept watch from a distance.
Our crew was in radio contact with the Chinese coast guard, asking them to move back and also reading a statement asserting the Philippines’ claims to the shoal.
As the reef approached, the Bagacay accelerated, trying to take away the heat from the Datu Bankaw, which had called nearby fishermen for refueling.
The Chinese coast guard eventually backed off and as the Bagacay approached within 1,000 meters of the southern entrance to the shoal, they spotted a 380 meter barrier of white buoys – another obstacle in its path .
The sea was unusually calm when the crew dispatched a drone to examine the artificial boundary. That’s when the Chinese pounced, attacking the ship with water cannons from both sides.
The Philippine Coast Guard condemned China’s actions in a statement.
She said she tasked her vessel “to carry out a legitimate maritime patrol in the waters near Bajo De Masinloc” with the “primary objective of distributing fuel and supplies” to support fishermen.
“During the patrol, the Philippine vessels encountered dangerous maneuvers and obstructions from four Chinese coast guard vessels and six Chinese maritime militia vessels,” the statement added.
The damage caused by the cannons “serves as evidence of the high water pressure used by the Chinese Coast Guard to harass Philippine vessels,” the Philippine Coast Guard said.
The confrontation, while shocking, was not a rare incident in the South China Sea, where Chinese ships have frequently deployed water cannons, lasers and other intimidation tactics against the Philippines and any other vessels it they suspected of encroaching on their territory.
The Philippines praised its coast guard for standing firm. “They have not been deterred and will continue to conduct their legitimate operations to support Filipino fishermen and ensure their safety. »
Later in the day, the convoy turned back toward port due to damage to the supply ship.
Their crews – this time – remained unharmed, but such incidents are a risk they frequently face in the battle for control of the strategic South China Sea, on the front line of tensions that many fear could trigger the next international conflict.
