China's laser weapons that blind sailors on Philippine ships

 China typically harasses Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine sea by having their own fishing boats (read fishermen paid by the Chinese govt to do this) and sometmies their "coast guard" to sail near them and harass them.

Several fishing boats have been damaged and life lost but hey when the Philippine gov't complained, China shrugged and said hey it was an accident.

So now, Philippine government boats bringing supplies to our outposts on the shoals that are within the Exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, have been attacked with strong lasers.

and the Philippines is warning: stop this or we will ask the Yanks to come to our aid as treaties say they have to. From the Inquirer:

Carpio, who has been using his legal expertise to champion the country’s control over the West Philippine Sea, said the CCG’s use of lasers flouted the 1998 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, which China and the Philippines both signed with more than 100 countries. 

 well, good luck with that. Popular mechanics notes 

The Philippine Coast Guard has accused the Chinese Coast Guard of temporarily blinding its crew with a military-grade laser. China, which has used lasers to blind rival militaries before, didn’t deny the laser attack. China likely won’t face serious consequences for the attack.

 

 

But this isn't the only recent Chinese use of lasers. A report from Australia from last year notes:

Just after midnight last Thursday, a transiting Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) vessel shone a military-grade laser at an Australian air force plane conducting coastal maritime surveillance.This did not happen in the South China Sea near China’s coastline, but rather in the Arafura Sea, within Australia’s exclusive economic zone off the north coast of the country. From what we can ascertain, this is the closest an attempt at military intimidation by China has gotten to our shores.

Why would they do this? Well, Australia is one of several nations that are joining the US in "Freedom of Navigation operations" in the West Philippines Sea: A way of telling China that no, legally they don't own the area, and no, they do not have the right to block shipping in this area.