Latest news with #ScarboroughShoal
South China Morning Post
22-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
How China squeezes Filipino fishers at Scarborough Shoal
From the decks of battered fishing boats, the struggle over Scarborough Shoal has entered a new, precarious phase. As China steps up its patrols, Filipino fishers say they are being forced to abandon seas their families have plied for generations – raising fears that what's unfolding at the reef could become the playbook for Beijing's wider South China Sea ambitions. The Chinese coastguard's intensified enforcement of a controversial anti-trespassing law is the latest move in China's campaign to tighten its hold over the rocky outcrop, located just 220km (137 miles) from the Philippines ' main island and squarely within Manila's exclusive economic zone. The warnings from fishers come as a fresh report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, published on Monday, cautioned that China's expanding footprint around Scarborough Shoal risks cementing its de facto control – raising the spectre of future miscalculations in these disputed waters. Constant patrols by the Chinese coastguard have driven Filipino fishers as far as 40 nautical miles (74km) from the shoal, according to Leonardo Cuaresma, head of the New Masinloc Fishermen's Association in Zambales. 'If we go beyond that, the Chinese coastguard will chase us or hit us with water cannons. Even our Philippine coastguard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels are also subjected to water cannons,' Cuaresma told This Week in Asia.
NHK
21-06-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Philippines accuses Chinese Coast Guard of firing water cannons
Officials in the Philippines accuse the Chinese Coast Guard of firing water cannon at one of their vessels. They say the incident took place near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Manila made the announcement on Friday. It says four ships of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources were blocked by a Chinese Coast Guard vessel while supplying fuel to Philippine fishing boats. Officials released a video showing what appears to be a Chinese ship targeting the Philippine vessels with water cannon. They describe China's act as illegal, and say the lives of the crew members were put in danger. A spokesperson for the Chinese Coast Guard responded by saying the Philippine vessels violated international and Chinese law. He also accused them of undermining China's sovereignty. Scarborough shoal lies about 200 kilometers west of Luzon Island, within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, but is effectively controlled by China. Last year, Beijing unilaterally revised its territorial baselines to include the area.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China-EU friction in spotlight, excessive dining austerity measures: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing China's central bank is launching a new connect programme with Hong Kong to facilitate cross-border payments – Beijing's latest move to open up its financial sector and also leverage the southern financial centre to better connect with the rest of the world. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen Decades of overinvestment and state subsidies in China, weak domestic consumption, an addiction to manufacturing, crashing corporate profits, zombie companies that the state does not let die and a superpower trade war have, the EU believes, created a perfect storm. Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed again in the South China Sea, with Beijing saying its coastguard used a water cannon to expel a Philippine government vessel near Scarborough Shoal on Friday. China Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun said on Friday afternoon that Philippine vessel 3006 had 'ignored repeated warnings and insistently intruded' into Chinese waters near the strategic shoal.
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Reuters
Philippines accuses China coast guard of aggressive manoeuvres against its fisheries vessels
MANILA, June 20 (Reuters) - The Philippines accused Chinese Coast Guard ships on Friday of carrying out aggressive manoeuvres and targeting its fisheries vessels with water canons while they were delivering supplies to Filipino fishermen at the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Friday. One of the four Philippine fisheries vessels involved in the mission was briefly struck by a water cannon, while another evaded being hit, the Philippine Coast Guard said in a statement.
Bloomberg
20-06-2025
- Bloomberg
China Says It Drove Away Philippine Ship From Disputed Shoal
China's coast guard said it drove away a Philippine ship around Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Friday. 'The China Coast Guard gradually took necessary measures such as shouting warnings, following and forcing, and water cannon warnings to drive away the Philippine ship,' it said in a statement.
