China Defends Vessels' Actions Against Philippines in South China Sea

China claims most of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, with overlapping claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, and denies charges its actions in what it says is its own territory are provocative.

Gilbert Baoya, a 58-year-old fisherman from Pangasinan province in the Philippines, told Reuters that armed men from China's coast guard cut his boat's ropes, which were tied to the shoal.

"We were terrified," he said. "We couldn't do anything."

China's coast guard used bull horns to drive the fishermen away, telling them to stop fishing, said Efren Montehermido, a 20-year-old fisherman who showed Reuters a mobile phone video of the water cannon incident on April 13.

Montehermido said fishermen like him had to sneak into the shoal at night and leave in the morning.

"We are like thieves in our own homes," he said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina in BEIJING and Manuel Mogato in MANILA, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)