MANILA, Dec 5 — The Philippines’ foreign ministry said today it has filed a diplomatic protest against China over a December 4 maritime incident in a contested shoal the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines traded accusations yesterday over a maritime confrontation around Scarborough Shoal, the latest row in a long-running and intensifying dispute.

It was the 60th diplomatic protest lodged by Manila against China this year, and the 193rd since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022, foreign ministry data shows.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, which has angered neighbouring countries that dispute some boundaries they say cut into their exclusive economic zones.

China rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law. — Reuters