It comes as Duterte makes his debut on the worldwide stage at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Vientiane, Laos, a meeting where the disputed South China Sea often takes center stage.
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As the leaders met, the Philippine Defence Department released new surveillance photos of 10 ships ‘to announce that we are aware of any and all movements in the area, ‘ Philippine presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. Officials said they were taken September 3 in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop that China seized from the Philippines in 2012.
Part of the research included the violent standoff between China and the Philippines at the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 which led to China’s eventual seizing of the shoal as well as the 2014 standoff between China and Hanoi.
Besides its talks with China, Asean will hold bilateral and multilateral meetings with the US, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the UN.
The Philippines released photos Wednesday to back its claims that China had secretly begun work to cement control over a crucial shoal in the hotly contested South China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she believed it was natural for China’s coast guard vessels to legally carry out patrols and maintain maritime order in waters under China’s jurisdiction.
The gathering in Laos is the first ASEAN meeting since an global Courtruled in July that China’s claims to the sea had no legal basis, and that its artificial island building programme in the waters was illegal.
The move by the Philippines comes after a spat with the United States, its main ally.
US President Barack Obama is also in Laos for the regional meetings, which will conclude on Thursday with an East Asia summit.
According to the recent global tribunal ruling, the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal does not belong to any country and that the area is the traditional fishing ground of Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese fishermen.
Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports that both sides also issued a joint statement declaring that they agree on the application of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), and an global agreement reached in 2014 to reduce chances of maritime incidents in the South China Sea.
But the Asean leaders had a “candid exchange on views on regional and worldwide issues of mutual interest and concerns”, during a retreat ahead of the meeting with China.
However, the leaders are unlikely to make any official mention of the global Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that Beijing has no legal right to claim a large part of the South China Sea.
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If the Chinese government confirms the suspicion, the Philippines would lodge an official protest, according to Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
