Philippines blame China for Spratlys infringement

Manila, Jan 09(ANI): Philippines has accused China of intruding into its waters around the Spratly Islands.

According to their foreign ministry, they have spotted a Chinese vessel and two other Chinese ships in its waters near the Sabina shoal on December 11 and 12.

Philippine regional military commander Lt Gen Juancho Sabban confirmed that a naval patrol ship and an air force plane kept a vigilant eye on the Chinese vessels until they left their waters, The BBC reports.

"We were watching them. They did not drop anchor or unload construction materials and appeared to be just passing through," Sabban told an international press agency.

All three of them seemed to have come from the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef.

A formal protest was also launched with the China's charge d'affaires.

As many as six countries are involved in a dispute over the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Apart from the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan are the other four countries.

Although there was no quick response from Beijing but Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin claimed that the situation in the South China Sea was 'peaceful and stable'. (ANI)