US and Philippines condemn China coast guard’s dangerous water cannon blasts against Manila’s ships

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines and its treaty ally, the United States, have separately condemned a high-seas assault by the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The noontime assault Saturday by China’s ships off the Scarborough Shoal, one of the most aggressive this year, caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ships of the Philippines, Filipino officials said. They said suspected militia vessels accompanying Chinese coast guard ships used a long-range acoustic device that could impair hearing.