South China Sea: Manila dares Beijing to arbitrate claim ‘if China is not afraid’, summons Chinese envoy over stand-off

It came as Manila said it had summoned a Chinese envoy over “aggressive actions” by the China Coast Guard and other vessels near a reef off the Southeast Asian country’s coast.

“If China is not afraid to state its claims to the world, then why don’t we arbitrate under international law?,” Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters on Monday.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, including the Second Thomas Shoal, which is within the Philippines’ 200-mile (320km) exclusive economic zone.

Beijing and Manila have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and there have been repeated confrontations between their vessels near disputed reefs in recent months.

“They are the ones who entered our territory,” Philippine Defence Secretary Teodoro said.

“No country believes [their claims] and they see this as their way to use force, intimidate and bend the Philippines to their ambitions.”

The latest incident took place on Saturday near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands during a regular Philippine mission to resupply Filipino troops garrisoned on the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded navy ship.

The Philippines said the China Coast Guard blocked its supply vessel and damaged it with water cannon, injuring three soldiers.

The China Coast Guard has defended its actions, describing them as “lawful regulation, interception and expulsion” of a foreign vessel that “tried to forcefully intrude” into Chinese waters.

On Monday, Manila conveyed its “strong protest against the aggressive actions undertaken by the China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia against the rotation and resupply mission undertaken by the Philippines in Ayungin Shoal,” the Department of Foreign Affairs