Filipino fisherman to Chinese coast guard in disputed shoal: `This is not your territory. Go away.'

A Filipino fishing boat captain has protested the Chinese coast guard’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea where he says Chinese officers forcibly drove him and his men away from a disputed shoal and ordered them to dump their catch back in the sea. Filipino fisherman Joely Saligan belatedly reported the confrontation on Jan. 12 to Manila’s coast guard on Tuesday. China and the Philippines agreed in a Jan. 17 meeting in Shanghai to ease tensions after a year of territorial faceoffs in the busy sea passage. The hostilities have sparked fears of a conflict that could involve Washington, Manila’s longtime treaty ally.