Philippines Accuses China Of Infiltrating Its Watersheds

Philippine coast guard ship BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410). (Wikimedia Commons/Philippine Coast Guard Facebook)

JAKARTA - The Philippine Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused China of infiltrating its waters, following an incident involving a military ship of the two countries in disputed shallow waters in the South China Sea earlier this week.

The State Department (DFA) said China's military claims that the Philippine military vessels "entered illegally" waters near Scarborough Shoal "have no legal basis and only increased tension" in the disputed waterway.

"Chinalah is intrusing Philippine waters," the Philippine Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It is known that the Philippines and China both claim the Scarborough Shoal region, but their sovereignty has never been established and the region remains under Beijing's control since they seized the region from Manila in 2012.

The DFA says the atoll, called "Bajo de Masinloc", is in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and the country has sovereign and jurisdictional rights over the region.

"The Philippines has consistently asked Chinese ships in Bajo de Masinloc to immediately leave the area," the Philippine Foreign Ministry said.

The 200 km (124 miles) off the coast of the Philippines is part of an arbitration lawsuit filed by Manila in an international court. The court ruled in 2016 that Beijing's claim to 90 percent of the South China Sea had no basis under international law, but China refused to recognize the decision.

Separately, the Philippine Presidential Office said on Thursday the issue of the South China Sea would be part of a bilateral talk between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Ferdinand Marcos on Friday.