MANILA – The Philippines on May 1 accused China’s coast guard of elevating tensions in the South China Sea after two Philippine vessels suffered damage from water cannon use by Beijing, an official said.

Philippine officials have said a coast guard ship and a fisheries vessel were damaged on April 30 when Chinese Coast Guard vessels fired water cannon at them while they were on their way to the disputed Scarborough Shoal to help Filipino fishermen at sea.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman on South China Sea matters, said its Chinese counterparts had elevated tensions after they directly used water cannon against one of the Philippine vessels for the first time.

“It just goes to show that Goliath is becoming more Goliath. They don’t hesitate to use brute force to violate international law,” he told a briefing.

China has previously used water cannon against Philippine navy-crewed civilian supply vessels in the region.

No country has sovereignty over the strategically located Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch close to major shipping lanes used by several countries. The shoal falls inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and has been a constant flashpoint between it and China.

Mr Tarriela added that China’s actions do not count as an armed attack against a Philippine vessel, but he said China has been raising the pressure of its water cannon which have damaged Philippine ships.

The Philippines has a longstanding mutual defence treaty with the United States and Washington has pledged its “ironclad commitment” to defending its ally against an armed attack on Philippine military and public vessels, including coast guard ships, anywhere in the South China Sea.

A spokesperson at China’s embassy in Manila said Scarborough Shoal, which it calls Huangyan Dao, “has always been China’s territory” and urged the Philippines to “stop making infringement and provocations at once and not to challenge China’s resolve to defend our sovereignty”.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion (S$4.1 trillion) of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

An international tribunal in 2016 said China’s expansive claim had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected. REUTERS