MANILA: China has no business telling the Philippines what it can or cannot do within its waters, Manila’s defence ministry said on Wednesday, rejecting Beijing’s opposition to its ongoing coastguard exercises.
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal in The Hague rule that claim, which China bases on its old maps, is inconsistent with international law. The Philippine defence ministry in a statement responded saying: “China has no business telling the Philippines what it can and cannot do”.