BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, BRUNEI — The Philippines said Sunday that an increasing Chinese military and paramilitary presence in the disputed South China Sea was a threat to regional peace.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario made the statement in a press release issued at a regional security forum attended by his counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
“Del Rosario today expressed serious concern over the increasing militarisation of the South China Sea,” the statement said.
He said there was a “massive presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships” at two groups of islets within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone called Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal.
Del Rosario described the Chinese military presence at these islets as “threats to efforts to maintain maritime peace and stability in the region”.
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