The incident happened near the disputed Scarborough Shoal and Beijing said it acted "in accordance with the law".

Chinese coast guard vessels backed by navy ships fired powerful water cannons and blocked and sideswiped a Philippine patrol vessel on Wednesday in renewed aggression at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea,

The latest dispute in the controversial waters follows China’s submission of nautical charts to the United Nations, drawing a baseline "territorial waters" around the prime fishing patch of the Scarborough Shoal, which is a major flashpoint between the two.