The confrontation happened as Philippine supply boats and escort ships attempted to deliver food to forces near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
The Chinese coast guard assaulted three Philippine vessels with water cannon blasts Sunday and rammed one of them, causing serious engine damage off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea just a day after similar hostilities at another shoal, the Philippine coast guard said.
The latest confrontation happened near Second Thomas Shoal as two Philippine navy-operated supply boats and Philippine coast guard escort ships were en route to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces in a long-marooned navy ship that serves as a territorial outpost, said a coast guard spokesman, Commodore Jay Tarriela.
No other details were provided. Drone video footage and photographs issued by the Philippine coast guard show two Chinese coast guard ships separately blasting water cannons at close range at a Philippine coast guard patrol ship, BRP Cabra, and a smaller supply boat.
I realize this is a serious situation, but I can’t help but be amused by the idea of navies essentially shooting each other with squirt guns.
It is, those are ‘water cannons’ they’re not squirt guns. Just adding so people understand how high pressure these things can be.
Is there a reason people don’t just shoot one back at them?
Because China will yell “ESCALATION!!! SEEE THEY ARE ATTACKING US” and come back with actual warships and bullets next time.
and? classic case of fuck around and find out. Maybe it’s time to show dictatorships like china that their actions can have consequences…
The US is already busy supporting two other wars right now. I doubt the Philippines wants to push their luck on how much support we would be willing/able to provide.
Don’t forgot that’s the Atlantic carrier groups supporting those efforts. The Pacific carrier groups are still in that area. The US Navy can posture much better than China can if they wanted to.
China has a weird thing with fighting over disputes without weapons. In the Himalayas the Chinese and Indians semi-regularly clash with sticks or baseball bats. There are videos and they are amazing.
Pretty sure this is because both sides agreed to not carry firearms in those areas. I’d guess to prevent a full-scale war breaking out
Yes this is why. They agreed not to use firearms on their border, but still clash anyways, just with different weapons
are sticks and baseball bat’s not weapons? I’m confused.
Less lethal than a gun.
oh so only guns are weapons?
Anything can be a weapon. Guns happen to make pretty effective weapons, more so than sticks.
That was my initial point, however many (i’m assuming Americans) are so psychologically broken,they consider anything not a gun to be not a weapon, as the initial comment i responded to implied. the downvotes only serve to confirm this bizzare phenomenon.
Maybe one day, wars will be fought not with bullets, but with squirt guns.
Just like the emojis predicted
No no, see what happened was the Chinese ship was trying to clear their water hoses from being clogged, and no matter where they aimed at the Philippine boat navigated to that exact spot in an act of aggression.
Are ramming ships about to come back so these navies can wage low stakes territory war without starting any shooting? China’s already in a stick war with India so it’s not even that far fetched.
Isn’t that what Einstein was talking about? We just cut out the nuclear war that should have come before that.
This reminds me of that time. England and Iceland went to “war” over fishing rights in the 70s and just, like, cut fishing nets and rammed each other’s boats
When I hear they’re ramming ships, my first thought is that it’d be a shame if someone put a giant barbell in their ship
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The latest confrontation happened near Second Thomas Shoal as two Philippine navy-operated supply boats and Philippine coast guard escort ships were en route to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces in a long-marooned navy ship that serves as a territorial outpost, said a coast guard spokesman, Commodore Jay Tarriela.
It also claimed a Philippine vessel ignored warnings and in violation of international navigation regulations made a sharp turn in an “unprofessional and dangerous manner” and intentionally collided with a Chinese coast guard ship, causing “scratching.”
China’s ships, which have surrounded the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal for years, have blocked Philippine coast guard and supply boats in a years-long effort to take control of the hotly disputed atoll claimed by both nations.
That assault caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels, officials said.
Philippine officials added that in addition to the use of water cannons Saturday, suspected militia vessels accompanying Chinese coast guard ships used a long-range acoustic device that could impair hearing, causing “severe temporary discomfort and incapacitation to some Filipino crew.”
A flotilla of 40 civilian fishing boats, backed by Philippine coast guard escort ships, was enroute Sunday to Second Thomas Shoal and two other Philippine-occupied areas to deliver Christmas food packs and other donated supplies to Filipino forces.
The original article contains 614 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
