MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials announced Tuesday they have formally objected to China’s placement of a floating platform staffed with personnel on a contested shoal in the South China Sea, expressing concerns it may represent Beijing’s initial step toward constructing another artificial island military outpost.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila filed an official complaint regarding China’s recent actions at Scarborough Shoal, which Philippine coast guard and military forces observed, though officials provided no additional specifics.
Beijing rejected the Philippines’ concerns and restated its position of having “indisputable sovereignty” over the shoal and surrounding waters, while declining to provide details about the situation to Philippine authorities.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian stated from Beijing: “Any activities China conducts on Huangyan Island, including scientific research, are the legitimate rights of a sovereign state.”
“China urges the Philippine side to cease maritime infringements and provocations and stop hyping up the issue,” he added.
Following weeks of intense confrontation with Philippine vessels in 2012, China positioned ships to control the uninhabited Scarborough area, leading Manila to pursue international arbitration against Beijing’s territorial claims, which the Philippines substantially won.
The 2016 arbitration decision, based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, struck down China’s assertions over nearly the entire South China Sea.
However, China declined to take part in the Philippines-initiated arbitration process and rejected the decision as fraudulent, alleging it was orchestrated by the United States working with the Philippines.
Over ten years ago, China began converting contested and uninhabited reefs into what are now missile-defended island installations — including three equipped with military-grade airstrips — throughout the Spratlys archipelago, a heavily contested South China Sea region.
During the mid-1990s, Chinese military forces took control of one of seven locations, Mischief Reef, by constructing small elevated huts and claiming they would function as fishermen’s refuges in international waters.
The Philippines vigorously objected to China’s takeover of Mischief, asserting the location falls within its internationally acknowledged exclusive economic zone.
Gen. Romeo Brawner, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, stated the Philippine military will prevent China from converting Scarborough into another island installation.
“We will not allow an incident before to happen again, where a small structure was built and later on, it grew into an artificial island,” Brawner said.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also assert territorial rights in the South China Sea, though confrontations have especially intensified between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval units in recent years.
The U.S. has consistently stated it is bound to protect the Philippines, its longest-standing treaty partner in Asia, if Filipino military personnel, vessels and aircraft face armed assault, including in disputed maritime areas.
