Accused By China Ingkar Janji Soal Beting Ayungin, President Of The Philippines: If There Is, I Will Cancel The Agreement Now

Philippine President Marcos Jr. (Twitter/@bongbongmarcos)

JAKARTA - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday denied making a deal with China over the transfer of a warship that was dissolved and turned into a military post in the South China Sea, saying if the deal ever existed, it should be considered canceled.

China on Monday accused the Philippines of breaking promises made "explicitly" to move the warships in 1999, in order to increase its territorial claims in one of the most contested regions in the world.

"I am not aware of such arrangements or agreements, that the Philippines will remove its ships from its own territory," President Marcos Jr. said in a video statement.

"And let me go further, if there is such an agreement, I will cancel the agreement now," said President Marcos Jr.

The Philippines is known to have defended several troops aboard the BRP Sierra Madre warship dating back to the World War II era in Second Thomas Shoal, known by Manila as Beting Ayungin, which is located within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Meanwhile, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, previously challenged China to show evidence of the promise.

"For all intents and purposes, it is a figment of their imagination," he said.

Separately, there was no comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila on this matter.

China and the Philippines are known to have been involved in confrontations for years at the bench, with the latest happening last Saturday. The Philippines accused China's coast guard of using water cannons to block supply missions to the Sierra Madre BRP.

The Philippines is "committed to defend" the rusty ship at the beting, Malaya said, adding it was "a symbol of our sovereignty in the composing located in our EEZ".

The Philippines won an international arbitration decision against China in 2016, after a court said Beijing's claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea had no legal basis, including in the Second Thomas Shoal.

The EEZ gives the country sovereign rights to fisheries and natural resources within 200 miles of its coast, but does not show sovereignty over the region.

Meanwhile, China has built militarized man-made islands in the South China Sea and its historic sovereignty claims overlap with the EEZ of a number of countries, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia to Brunei.