Philippines protests Chinese use of water cannon

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government summoned China’s top envoy in Manila on Tuesday to protest what it said was the firing of a water cannon by a Chinese government vessel to drive away Filipino fishermen from a hotly disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the protest was handed to Beijing’s charge d’affairs over the Jan. 27 incident at Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground claimed by China and the Philippines. China ignored the protest and called its sovereignty there “indisputable.”