What It Feels Like to Be the Target of China’s Water Cannons

The Filipino fishers on wooden boats waved at our vessel, a Philippine fisheries boat, from less than a mile away, but no one on our ship dared to move. Encircling us were two Chinese Coast Guard ships and five Chinese militia vessels.

Then came the water cannon.

One of the Chinese Coast Guard ships had fired the high-intensity water jet at our boat to prevent us from getting closer to fishermen near the Scarborough Shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks 140 miles west of the Philippines. The blast of water rocked the vessel like an earthquake at sea. “Emergency!” Armando Hachuela, the ship’s captain, shouted to the crew and journalists on the deck. “Inside, now!”

A reporter for The New York Timeswas among journalists invited by the Philippines on one of three ships deployed by the country’s fisheries bureau on a mission Saturday to provide fuel to Filipino fishermen.

The Scarborough Shoal is a major flashpoint between Manila and Beijing. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, including waters hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland. It took control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippines, and has maintained a constant coast guard presence there, restricting entry to the lagoon.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines has stepped up efforts to resist China’s blockade in these waters. He has also deepened Manila’s partnerships with the United States, Japan, Canada, and even Vietnam, which also claims parts of the disputed waters, to deter China. Many countries have urged Beijing to respect a 2016 ruling by an international court that invalidated China’s wide-ranging claim over the waters. China has ignored that court ruling and continued its expansion in the region, building artificial islands and military outposts.

After multiple maritime clashes with Chinese vessels in recent months, the Philippines started inviting journalists on its resupply missions to Philippine-claimed islands and features in a strategy aimed at showing how China is flexing its military might in the disputed waters.

The ships on Saturday’s mission departed from a port in the western Philippine province of Bataan and arrived near the