MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippines has protested China’s baselines around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, as tensions between the two nations build up anew over their competing claims in the South China Sea.
A protest was filed in relation to China’s action, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza told reporters on Tuesday. That’s the 56th complaint Manila has filed against Beijing this year over disputes in the resource-rich waterway, she said.
China on Sunday said it delimited the baselines of the territorial sea adjacent to Scarborough Shoal - which it calls Huangyan Dao - saying it’s a "natural step” to lawfully strengthen marine management.
In response, Manila’s National Maritime Council said China’s latest move "is a continuation of its 2012 illegal seizure of the shoal,” which the Philippines continues to oppose. "These baselines are drawn in violation of the Philippines’ long-established sovereignty over the shoal throughout history,” the council said in a statement on Tuesday.
Beijing’s action came after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday enacted two laws bolstering his nation’s maritime claims, including the Maritime Zones Act, which seeks to make Manila’s maritime rights well-defined by creating routes over its waters and airspace.
China said that law "aims to further solidify the illegal arbitral award” on the South China Sea, referring to the 2016 international ruling that voided Beijing’s sweeping claims over the strategic waterway.
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