Philippines says China fired water cannon at disputed shoal

MANILA, Feb 24 (AFP): The Philippines' military chief on Monday accused China's coast guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen for the first time to drive them away from a disputed sea shoal.

General Emmanuel Bautista said Chinese vessels fired cannon on January 27 near Scarborough Shoal-the subject of a bitter territorial row in the strategically important South China Sea.

"The Chinese coast guard tried to drive away Filipino fishing vessels to the extent of using water cannon," Bautista told a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.