We are on a mission with the Philippines’ coast guard to accompany a supply ship taking fuel and food to fishermen near the Scarborough Shoal.

The shoal is one of several South China Sea features claimed by China even though it is within 200 miles of the Philippines economic exclusion zone.

The aggressive behaviour by Chinese vessels in recent months is a sign of the growing escalation between Manila and Beijing that could become a major geopolitical flashpoint.

Two ships left Manila, the Philippines coast guard ship BRP Bagacay, and the supply ship BRP Datu Bankaw.

We travelled overnight and, at about 5am, still more than three hours from the shoal, two Chinese coast guard ships (CCG) were spotted on the horizon, clearly trailing us.

The number grew to five plus one naval ship.

At about 24 nautical miles from the Shoal the CCG ships engaged in an aggressive game of cat and mouse with both Philippine ships, trying to separate them and blocking the path to the shoal.

The coast guard vessels were coming as close as about 30 metres (100ft) to us, causing the captain of our ship to take evasive action.

The CCG ships were cutting closely in front of us, clearly also trying to send a political signal about China’s claims to the shoal.

The Filipinos sped up and the CCG pulled back temporarily until we got within sight of the southern entrance to the shoal, which was blocked by a floating barrier.

By this time the supply ship was 12 nautical miles behind the Philippines coast guard to try to draw in fishing boats for supplies. The Philippines’ coast guard ship was a decoy.

About 1,000 yards from the southern entrance, at about 9am, CCG ships arrived from behind and turned on the water cannons, which were so powerful they smashed the plastic canopy at the back of the boat and bent its metal structure.

There is now debris all over the back of the boat – a broken table, large pieces of heavy plastic. Anyone standing underneath the canopy could have been seriously injured.

The crew and journalists sheltered in a passageway as the water pounded down on the deck and hammered the side of the ship, also damaging a railing. The supply ship was also hit by water cannons.

For about an hour the CCG ships kept firing their water cannons, following the Philippines ship in a pincer movement and directly hitting it three times, trying to push it back from the shoal.

Our crew have been in radio contact with the CCG, requesting them to turn off the water cannons and also reading out a statement asserting the Philippines’ claims to the shoal which lies with its EEZ.

There have been no aggressive moves by the Philippine coast guard, only evasive behaviour.

Beijing asserts sovereignty in South China Sea

The shoal is one of several disputed territories in the South China Sea and the site of frequent confrontations between Chinese and Filipino coastguard and fishing vessels.

Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea and its estimated 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and it ignores competing claimants Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

China claims the triangular-shaped Scarborough Shoal and refers to it as Huangyan Island, even though it lies within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines as defined by international maritime law.

China effectively seized control of Scarborough Shoal’s lagoon in 2012 after its coast guard engaged Philippine vessels in a standoff. Two CCG ships have been permanently deployed inside the lagoon since then.

Although it has not built anything on the Scarborough Shoal since 2016, China imposes its sovereignty claims through fishing bans on Filipino boats.

China’s restrictions have led to a noticeable reduction – up to two-thirds – of what fishermen said they normally catch.

Relations between Manila and Beijing deteriorating

In September last year, Philippine forces removed a 300-metre floating barrier installed by China near the shoal, which triggered a warning from Beijing.

China last year also accused a Philippine military ship of “illegally entering” the waters near Scarborough Shoal. The Chinese coast guard said it had taken measures to drive away the Philippine Navy gunboat.

In a separate incident in December, the US condemned a high-seas assault by the Chinese coast guard together with suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from the shoal.

The assault, one of the most aggressive in 2023, caused “significant damage” to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ships, Filipino officials said.

The ships had sailed to the area to provide humanitarian aid, mainly free fuel and Christmas grocery packs, to poor Filipino fishermen aboard nearly 30 boats.

They said the swarm of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships took dangerously aggressive actions, including the use of water cannons at least eight times, as the Philippine government ships approached about 2.6 kilometres to 3.5 kilometres (1.6 to 2 miles) from Scarborough Shoal.

The tense confrontations are taking place against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Manila and Beijing, the latter of which is increasingly suspicious about the Philippines’ growing alliance with the United States.

This includes strengthening defence cooperation and more access for US forces to Filipino military bases. The Philippines is seen as an important staging post in the event of a Taiwan Strait crisis, but the South China Sea dispute is also viewed as a flashpoint in its own right.

Nicola Smith, The Telegraph’s Asia Correspondent, was onboard a Philippine coast guard ship accompanying fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Tuesday when her ship was attacked by the Chinese coast guard