Philippines summons China envoy over navy ship's 'illegal intrusion'

A file photo of the Philippine Navy's NAVSOG aboard a patrol boat along a Manila Bay in November 2015. - Reuters

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines said Monday (March 14) it had confronted Beijing's ambassador after a Chinese navy ship was caught illegally "lingering" in the South-East Asian nation's waters, in the latest diplomatic row between the two countries.

Manila and Beijing are locked in a territorial dispute over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost its entirety, but the Philippines' foreign ministry said the Chinese vessel entered its archipelagic waters "without permission".