Chinese coast guard ships blasted water cannons at two Philippine government fisheries vessels Friday in the South China Sea, the third confrontation this week, as top diplomats met in Manila for the annual foreign minister meetings, with the skirmishes in the disputed waters high on the agenda.
China claims virtually the entire sea passage, a key global trade route, despite a 2016 arbitration ruling based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that invalidated Beijing’s expansive claims.
