Philippines' Marcos Condemns China's 'Illegal And Reckless' Actions Over Disputed Reef

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Sunday condemned what he called "Illegal and reckless" actions by China's air force last week against a Filipino military plane patrolling over a disputed South China Sea reef. Two Chinese air force aircraft undertook a "Dangerous manoeuvre" and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine air force turboprop over Scarborough Shoal on Thursday, according to the Philippine military. The Chinese actions were "Unjustified, illegal and reckless, especially as the PAF aircraft was undertaking a routine maritime security operation in Philippine sovereign airspace," Marcos said in a statement. "We sternly warn the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hype," said a statement from the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, adding that "China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island and adjacent waters". The incident follows a series of increasingly tense confrontations between Manila and Beijing, which claims most of the South China Sea and seized the shoal after a 2012 standoff with the Philippines. Despite last week's incident, the Philippines said Sunday it will continue to patrol its Exclusive Economic Zone, defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as waters beyond a coastal nation's territorial seas over which it has sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources. "The Armed Forces of the Philippines reaffirm our determination to conduct regular surveillance operations in line with international law," military spokesperson Francel Padilla said in an interview over local radio station DZBB. "We will safeguard our country's sovereignty and security over our maritime domain," she added.