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.