Chinese ambassador apologized over 'water cannon attack' vs Philippine boats —Lorenzana

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday said the ambassador of China has apologized for the firing of water cannons by the Chinese Coast Guard at Philippine ships in the West Philippine Sea.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, Lorenzana said the supposed water cannon attacks by CCG were unintentional.

“Ang sitwasyon dun ngayon ay tahimik naman, stable, wala namang nangyayaring mga kaguluhan d'yan,” he said.

(The situation now in the West Philippine Sea is quiet, stable, and no trouble was happening except when our supply ship was water cannoned.)

“Pero pinag-usapan na namin ng ambassador ng China at nag-apologize naman siya at hindi naman nila sinasadya 'yun. So ngayon 'yung ating resupply ay tuloy-tuloy na rin,” he added.

(The Chinese ambassador and I already talked about this and he apologized, saying it was not intentional. So now our resupply mission has continued.)

On November 18 last year, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said two Philippine supply boats on a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal were water cannoned by Chinese Coast Guard vessels on November 16.

Locsin said he has conveyed "in the strongest terms" to Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian and his Chinese counterpart in Beijing the Philippines'  "outrage, condemnation and protest of the incident."

"I reminded China that a public vessel is covered by the Philippines-United States Mutual Defense Treaty," he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte condemned the action of the Chinese ships, calling it abhorrent.

"We abhor the recent event in the Ayungin Shoal and view with grave concern other similar developments," Duterte said.

"This does not speak well of the relations between our nations and our partnership," he added.—AOL, GMA News