From the decks of battered fishing boats, the struggle over Scarborough Shoal has entered a new, precarious phase.
The warnings from fishers come as a fresh report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, published on Monday, cautioned that China’s expanding footprint around Scarborough Shoal risks cementing its de facto control – raising the spectre of future miscalculations in these disputed waters.
Constant patrols by the Chinese coastguard have driven Filipino fishers as far as 40 nautical miles (74km) from the shoal, according to Leonardo Cuaresma, head of the New Masinloc Fishermen’s Association in Zambales.
“If we go beyond that, the Chinese coastguard will chase us or hit us with water cannons. Even our Philippine coastguard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels are also subjected to water cannons,” Cuaresma told This Week in Asia.
