China Water Cannon Attack Caught on Camera

A new video shows a first-person view of a water cannon barrage that China's coast guard unleashed upon a Philippine boat on a supply mission to a contested outpost in the South China Sea.

The footage, published by local outlet GMA Integrated News, shows crew members dashing for cover before the high-pressure streams of water course over the railing and into the cabin, leaving piles of broken wood in their wake. "Stop—Lord!" a crew member can be heard shouting in Tagalog between blasts.

Early Saturday morning, supply boat Uzaimah May 4 and her two Philippine Coast Guard escorts were en route to deliver fresh troops and supplies to the grounded warship-turned-military outpost at Second Thomas Shoal. As the convoy approached, it was intercepted by a blockading force of Chinese coast guard and paramilitary vessels.

Like most of the South China Sea, China claims the reef as its territory, though it lies within the Philippines' internationally recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Philippine government footage shows the China Coast Guard pummeling the Uzaimah May 4 with their water cannons, at times from two directions at once. Manila said the attacks disabled the wooden boat and injured multiple passengers.

Separate footage released by News5 shows the extent of the damage from the exterior, including wooden panels visibly damaged or missing entirely in some areas.

Although the boat was rendered inoperable, Philippine marines stationed at Second Thomas Shoal dispatched rigid-hulled inflatable boats to retrieve supplies and the newly rotated personnel, Manila said.

Beijing maintains the Philippine presence at the atoll is illegal.

The Southeast Asian country ran aground a former U.S. tank landing ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, in 1999 to stake its claim to the feature, which is "a grave violation of China's territorial sovereignty," Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., told Newsweek.

He said Manila had promised on multiple occasions to tow the rusting vessel, "but over 20 years have passed, and the Philippines' warship is still sitting there."

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

An international court in 2016 sided with Manila against Beijing's claims within the Philippines' EEZ. China dismissed the ruling, citing historical rights.

Jeffrey Ordaniel, associate professor at Tokyo International University and senior researcher with the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum think tank, told Newsweek that without significant pushback from Philippine allies like the United States, he expects Beijing will steadily change the status quo.

"China is acting with impunity. It is time for the Philippines and the U.S. to discuss imposing actual costs on China," Ordaniel said, adding that such costs should take the form of a joint U.S.-Philippine freedom of navigation operation or even a U.S. Navy escort on the next supply run to Second Thomas Shoal.