Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. - File photo:CGTN
BEIJING (AFP): Chinese vessels gathered near a disputed reef in the South China Sea are "fishing boats" sheltering from poor weather, the foreign ministry said Monday (March 22), a day after the Philippines described their presence as an incursion.
China claims almost the entirety of the resource-rich sea, and has been accused by the United States of efforts to "intimidate, coerce and threaten other nations" to control it.
