JAKARTA - The June 17 incident at a disputed bedting in the South China Sea is not an "armed attack" by China on sailors and Manila ships, but the country needs to "do more than just protest", Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday.
"We have filed more than a hundred protests, we have demonstrated in the same number," Marcos told reporters.
"We have to do more than that," he said.
Although not considered an armed attack, the Bamboo Curtain Country coast guard carried out "illegal acts" in preventing regular supply of troops, said President Marcos Jr.
Earlier, a Philippine sailors suffered "serious injuries" after what his military described as a "deliberate high-speed collision" by the Chinese Coast Guard, aimed at disrupting a re-delivery mission of troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal on June 17.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the Philippines' statement, with a spokesman saying last Thursday it was a necessary action by the coast guard that was legal and professional.
This week, Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said the two countries held a working group meeting last week in preparation for a possible meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism in July.
The Philippines wants to invite China back to the negotiating table to resolve differences in the South China Sea, without sacrificing its sovereignty.
"Whatever steps to build the trust we achieve, it will not sacrifice the improvement of our sovereignty, sovereign rights, and our rights and jurisdictions in the West Philippine Sea," Manalo said.
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It is known, China claims almost the entire South China Sea with the so-called nine cut-off lines, which overlap with the exclusive economic zones of other plaintiffs, namely Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The 2016 arbitration court's decision, which Beijing does not recognize, overturned China's claim to the strategic waters.
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