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MANILA: The Philippines said one person was injured Tuesday when a water cannon attack by a China Coast Guard vessel shattered a window on the bridge of a fisheries bureau ship near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Two Chinese ships used water cannons while in pursuit of the BRP Datu Gumbay Piang as it delivered rations to Filipino fishermen near the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman said in a statement.
The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the crucial waterway, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
“This aggressive action lasted for about 29 minutes, resulting in significant damage, including shattered glass from the aft window of the bridge” and “damage to the captain’s cabin partitions,” said Commodore Jay Tarriela.
A crewmember of the Filipino vessel “sustained injuries due to the shattered glass caused by the water cannon,” said Tarriela, the coast guard’s spokesman for South China Sea issues.
A picture released by the Philippine coast guard showed a man with what appeared to be a lacerated ear.
The China Coast Guard on Tuesday evening released its own statement saying the Philippine ship had “deliberately rammed” a Chinese vessel.
Chinese ships had “taken control measures” on multiple vessels that had “insisted on illegally invading China’s territorial waters of Huangyan Dao,” China’s name for the Scarborough Shoal, they said.
An accompanying video showed the Philippine vessel — caught between two China Coast Guard ships — making contact with one of the Chinese ships after it was hit by the water cannon.
Tariella said the Filipino boat later sailed to a “safer position” away from the shoal following the encounter, which caused a short circuit aboard the vessel.
More than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the South China Sea.
Last month, a Chinese navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near Scarborough Shoal.
China seized control of the fish-rich shoal from the Philippines after a lengthy standoff in 2012.

NEW DELHI: India has launched its first national geothermal energy policy to develop the country’s largely untapped resources, as New Delhi seeks to further its transition to clean energy.

Geothermal, which currently meets less than 1 percent of global energy demand, is considered a clean source of power that harnesses heat produced by the Earth from underground reservoirs for heating, cooling and electricity generation.

India has identified potential sites to explore and develop its geothermal energy sources, which include 381 hot springs and 10 geothermal provinces, including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

“India’s renewable energy growth is vital for achieving ambitious climate change targets and the 2070 net-zero goal. India’s geothermal potential, rooted in its unique geological settings, remains largely untapped,” the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said in the policy announcement on Monday.

The policy is aimed at establishing geothermal energy as “one of (the) major pillars in India’s renewable energy landscape” through incentives, regulations and improving capabilities for geothermal research, exploration, development and deployment.

It promotes joint ventures between geothermal developers and oil, gas, and mineral companies, and encourages such projects to be funded through foreign direct investment, concessional loans and international collaborations.

To support the development of the geothermal sector, the MNRE also suggested fiscal incentives, such as tax holidays and exemptions from import duty and property tax.

The government’s move to unlock the potential of geothermal energy comes amid its popularity as a source of low-carbon electricity for Big Tech companies to fuel artificial intelligence growth that provides continuous, around-the-clock power and does not depend on the weather, unlike solar and wind.

The policy was also launched amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to make India a global AI powerhouse.

India is already one of the fastest-growing markets for OpenAI, the US-based startup behind the popular ChatGPT application, which is set to open its first office in New Delhi later this year, targeting the nearly one billion internet users in the world’s most populous country.

Next to India’s AI boom, concerns have been growing about how data centers fueling AI, which consume staggering amounts of water and electricity, are straining India’s already scarce resources.

India is home to nearly 18 percent of the world’s population, but holds only 4 percent of its water resources, making it among the most water-stressed globally.

Increasing demand for water from AI, quantum computing, and high-performance computers may further compound the problem, especially as demand also increases with India’s growing population.

Yet India also has an opportunity to “leverage AI to enhance resource conservation while enforcing strict environmental standards” for data centers, according to Varundeep Kaur, chief information officer of the Indian fintech platform Spice Money.

“Incentives for water recycling and renewable energy adoption can align AI growth with sustainability,” she said in a commentary, “AI’s Hidden Thirst: The Water and Power Crisis in India’s Digital Boom,” published in late July.

“India’s AI ambitions must not come at the expense of its environmental future … By adopting cutting-edge cooling technologies, prioritizing renewable energy, and implementing robust regulations, India can lead in sustainable AI development.”