China’s Water Cannons Test US-Philippines Pact in Sea Feud

Andreo Calonzo
·5 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- China’s increasing use of water cannons in the South China Sea is testing the limits of a decades-old defense pact between the Philippines and the US.

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China Coast Guard ships took turns firing forceful jets of water onto a wooden Philippines supply boat in the disputed ocean on the morning of March 23, the latest in at least six incidents in eight months. The two nations traded diplomatic protests on Monday, with Manila complaining against China’s “aggressive actions” at sea and Beijing accusing the Philippine vessels of “illegal trespassing.”

While the use of water cannons is unlikely to draw the US into direct conflict, it skirts closer to the boundary of what may be considered an “armed attack,” which would compel Washington to come to the Philippines’ aid.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Bloomberg News on March 19 that his country would have to be facing an “existential threat” to merit invoking the treaty, stressing how the Philippines has been trying to deal with China’s aggression in a “sober and circumspect manner, as we possibly can.”

The latest encounter between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea was witnessed by a group of journalists including from Bloomberg News on a trip arranged by the Philippine Coast Guard.

Two China Coast Guard ships and two militia vessels surrounded the Philippine boat that’s on a mission to rotate and resupply troops at a rusty warship in Second Thomas Shoal. Outmatched by its rivals, the boat tried for four hours to elude its adversaries in another tense cat-and-mouse chase in the vast sea where the two nations have overlapping claims.

The initial onslaught of high-velocity stream of water hit the sea surface but the succeeding bursts struck the fragile body of the wooden boat — the same vessel that survived a similar ordeal on March 5.

The weekend confrontation between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea shows how China has leaned on water cannons to counter the Philippines’ growing assertiveness in the contested waters. The escalating tensions have also prompted the US to reaffirm its commitment to defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack as stipulated in their 1951 defense treaty.

Filipino journalists witnessed the scene on board a Philippine Coast Guard vessel, as another Chinese ship tried to block the view. After almost an hour, the forceful water spray stopped.

The skirmish injured three Philippine crew members and “disabled” the supply boat, according to the nation’s government. The boat’s window covers were ripped, some wood panels on its body were detached, and a part of its roof appeared to have caved in under the pressure from the blow of high-speed and strong water pressure.

Bloomberg News saw the injury that the supply boat sustained, when the vessel returned to mainland Palawan province on Sunday. China’s dangerous moves including water cannon attacks have damaged other Philippine boats in the past months, pushing the nation’s modest maritime assets to their limits.

Marcos’s government has taken a more assertive stance on the maritime spat with China by protesting and publicizing what it describes as Beijing’s harassment. The Philippine leader said last week that the nation’s increased activity was a “response to an increasing threat,” while reiterating the country doesn’t accept China’s sweeping sea claims dashed by a 2016 arbitral ruling.

“The Chinese coast guard had to take necessary law enforcement measures and the actions taken on the scene were justified, lawful, professional, restrained and beyond reproach,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday. “If the Philippines does not change course, China will continue to take resolute steps to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

New Normal

China’s use of water cannon is part of its so-called “gray zone” tactics, said Professor Jeffrey Ordaniel from Tokyo International University. “The mutual defense treaty is triggered when there is armed attack against Philippine forces. Was there an armed attack? That is the question. It’s gray,” he said.

The US State Department criticized China’s “destabilizing” actions in a statement over the weekend, accusing Beijing of obstructing freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

“When you talk about the mutual defense treaty, to invoke that, actual outright violent conflict, then this is a very, very dangerous, very, very slippery road to go down,” Marcos said last week. While the US has been “very supportive,” the Philippine president said “it is dangerous for one to think in terms of when something goes wrong, we’ll run to big brother.”

Stretching from China in the north to Indonesia in the south, the South China Sea encompasses 1.4 million square miles (3.6 million square kilometers) and is a key route for around $3 trillion in annual trade traffic. It’s also a thriving fishing area — yielding some 10% of the global catch — and holds promising oil and natural gas reserves.

Despite China’s increasing use of water cannon to counter the Philippines, both countries are trying to keep their confrontations under the threshold of a military conflict, according to Professor Alexander Vuving from the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

“No bullet has been shot but China is trying to make the blasting of water cannon against the Philippines a new normal,” he said.

--With assistance from Cliff Venzon and James Mayger.

(Updates with details throughout.)

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