BEIJING, Sept 14 — China’s military has said that it had conducted "routine" patrols in the South China Sea and warned the Philippines against any provocations, according to a spokesman for the Southern Theatre Command.
The spokesman said the Philippines must immediately stop provoking incidents and escalating tensions in the South China Sea.
In a statement today, the spokesperson added that Chinese troops will continue to defend the country’s sovereignty in the region.
China claims almost all the South China Sea — a waterway carrying more than US$3 trillion (RM12.61 trillion) of annual commerce — despite overlapping claims by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Yesterday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the country stands with the Philippines in rejecting what he described as China's "destabilising plans" for a disputed atoll in the South China Sea.
"Beijing claiming Scarborough Reef as a nature preserve is yet another coercive attempt to advance sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at the expense of its neighbours," he said in a statement yesterday.
Rubio noted that China's actions continued to undermine regional stability, calling on Beijing to abide by the Arbitral Tribunal's unanimous 2016 decision that China had unlawfully prevented Filipino fishermen from engaging in traditional fishing at Scarborough Reef.
Filipino fishermen fear Beijing's plan to create the nature reserve could make it harder for them to operate in the atoll, which is under the constant watch of Chinese vessels.
Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone but has been under Beijing's control since 2012.
