Chinese Coast Guard vessels fired a water cannon at the ships, which managed to complete their mission. As expected, they were accosted by Chinese vessels, who ordered them to depart and fired water cannon, striking several ships. The resupply missions in the area of the Scarborough Shoal are conducted by the Philippine government every 45 days or so. Speaking from the deck of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel, she denounced China’s “destabilising and dangerous conduct in the South China Sea, some of which the Philippines Coast Guard knows too well.” The confrontation over the Scarborough Shoal exposes a sinister mechanism for engineering confrontations with China.