MANILA — Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned his country’s neighbors on April 23 that they should fear Beijing’s growing aggressiveness over its claims in the South China Sea.
Aquino stressed China’s territorial claims spanned a huge area and were getting “closer and closer” to the Philippine archipelago.
“They claim this entire body of water practically. Look at what is excluded and what they are claiming,” Aquino told reporters as he pointed to a map of the area. “So how can the others not be fearful of what is transpiring?” Aquino’s comments came shortly after his government said it would raise an increasingly tense dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal at a high-level bilateral meeting with the U.S. next week.
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