Manila’s coastguard said over the weekend that three Filipino fishermen were injured and two fishing vessels damaged when Chinese coastguard ships cut their anchor lines and fired water cannon near the Sabina Shoal on Friday, actions the Philippine defence secretary denounced as “dangerous” and “inhumane”.

The Chinese ministry defended its coastguard’s actions as “reasonable, lawful, professional and restrained”, and vowed to “take strong and effective measures” in response to “all acts of infringement and provocation”, according to the statement released on its social media account.

“The Philippine side amassed a large number of ships in an organised and premeditated manner to illegally intrude” into the atoll’s lagoon, the Chinese ministry said.

“Philippine personnel even threatened Chinese coastguard on site with a knife,” it added.

The Embassy of the Philippines in Beijing and the Philippines defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as Xianbin Reef and the Philippines as the Escoda Shoal, lies in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone 150 km (95 miles) west of Palawan province.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a waterway supporting more than $3 trillion of annual commerce. The areas Beijing claims cut into the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

An international arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that Beijing’s sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision China rejects.