CHINESE ships were caught on camera obliterating the windows of a Filipino civilian aid boat, injuring four crew members onboard.
Dramatic footage from onboard showed an aggressive jet of water pelting full speed into the window, knocking the person behind the camera to the ground.
The worrying encounter unfolded near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, a flash point of tensions with land which China, the Philippines and other countries argue belong to them.
As crew onboard tried to make a regular supply delivery to a Philippine warship posted in the Second Thomas Shoal reef for decades - China's Coast Guard pounced.
The chilling footage showed two enormous China coastguard vessels swarm around the much smaller supply boat, blasting it from both sides with aggressive water cannons.
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Several people were hurt in the ambush and the ship suffered "structural damage" after the latest escalation in a series of increasingly tense encounters in the area.
Beijing's enormous coastguard ships also went nose to nose with a Filipino supply boat, grazing the prow of the ship in a menacing show of intimidation.
Startling clips from onboard showed the crews facing off just metres away from each other, before the supply boat was miraculously able to continue on its way.
China, also in competition with Taiwan and Vietnam over the resource-dense hotspot, says the Philippine ship's grounding in the reef is illegal.
Philippine's military blasted China as having "harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers".
Manila said Xi's forces had mad yet "another attempt to illegally impede or obstruct a routine resupply and rotation mission".
Marines are stationed onboard the Filipino warship, and China has repeatedly tried to stop essential cargo being brought to them.
Another Philippine supply boat came under fire, but managed to make it to their destination; the small naval forces posted on the warship.
It was forced to turn around and head back after the damaging hit.
Beijing's response later that day dubbed their presence in the Second Thomas Shoal "illegal trespassing".
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They also said the supply ships didn't seek China's "permission" to deliver resources to the stranded vessel.
Manila's long-marooned warship has been stationed in the shoal since the 1990s.
In a laughable takeaway, Beijing said: "The response of China Coast Guard was professional, restrained, reasonable and lawful," the embassy added."
The Philippine government task force for territorial disputes raged that China's latest show of aggression "put the lives of our people at risk and caused actual injury to Filipinos".
