[ad_1]
SEOUL — The Philippines chastised China on Sunday for placing a barrier in the South China Sea to prevent Philippine fishermen from entering waters that Beijing has claimed as its territory.
The Philippine coast guard said it “strongly condemns” China and vowed to “uphold our maritime rights” in the latest territorial dispute between the two Southeast Asian nations.
The new maritime flare-up focuses on the Scarborough Shoal, known to Filipinos as Bajo de Masinloc — an atoll of reefs and rocks spanning 56 square miles. It lies 138 miles west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, but more than 580 miles from China’s southern Hainan Island.
Beijing has long claimed most of the South China Sea as its domain, dismissing territorial claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Amid its military buildup, China has declared as its sovereign territory the waters within its “nine dash line,” which lies more than 930 miles from Hainan Island and encompasses some 90% of the sea.
An international tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea denied China’s claims in 2016, but Beijing nonetheless has defended its position.
Beijing most recently published a map outlining its claims in August, underwriting its claims with maritime muscle that the Philippines cannot match.
[ad_2]
Source link