By Patricia Lourdes Viray
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines' top diplomat on Tuesday revealed that the country sent a note verbale to Beijing after verifying that it has installed weapons in the disputed South China Sea.
Last month, Washington-based CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported that China appears to have built anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in the disputed waters.
The Philippines filed a low-key diplomatic protest with China following this report.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said that the Philippines issued the note verbale as a matter of course or as part of policy.
"When I got the report about this installation we had our people, especially the intelligence community, verify all of these things and when the verification came in we, as a matter of course, sent a note verbale to China," Yasay said in an interview with ANC's Headstart.
Yasay refused to reveal the details of the note verbale, explaining that it is a confidential correspondence between the two countries.
Read the full story at PhilStar