Philippines to protest Chinese ships presence amid troubled ties

MANILA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The Philippines will lodge a
protest over the unannounced presence of two Chinese research
vessels in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), one of at least
three diplomatic challenges in recent weeks amid a souring of
relations.
The protest comes ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte's
planned visit to Beijing this month, during which he has
promised to raise Manila's South China Sea international
arbitration victory over Beijing with leader Xi Jinping, having
avoided confronting the thorny issue for three years.
Historically frosty bilateral relations had warmed under
Duterte, but he is looking increasingly awkward in defending his
controversial approach to China amid constant activity by its
coastguard, navy and paramilitary fishing vessels in
Philippine-controlled areas of the South China Sea.
"Firing off diplomatic protest," Foreign Affairs Secretary
Teodoro Locsin said in a Tweet on Friday.
The Philippines has protested the presence of more than 100
Chinese fishing vessels off Thitu island, a tiny island it holds
near China's militarised artificial island at Subi Reef.
It also protested the unannounced passage of Chinese
warships within the Philippines 12-mile territorial sea, which
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday said had happened
on several occasions since February, most recently in July.
The latest protest centres on the lingering presence of two
Chinese scientific research boats off the Philippines' Pacific
coast, within the 200 mile EEZ.
Lorenzana told news channel ANC that like other countries
conducting research, or moving warships near its coastline,
China should have informed the Philippines about it.
"We can always protest to the Chinese government. It's
telling them we know what you are doing and please tell us what
you are doing there," he said.
China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Duterte late Thursday called for a quicker creation of a
code of conduct between Southeast Asian countries and China for
the South China Sea, a conduit for in excess of $3.4 trillion of
goods each year.
The Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia
have overlapping claims of sovereignty within the South China
Sea. Via its nine-dash line on maps, China says it has historic
jurisdiction to almost the entire sea, although the 2016
arbitral ruling declared that invalid under international law.
On Thursday, Vietnam said a Chinese survey ship embroiled in
a tense month-long standoff with Hanoi's vessels left the
Southeast Asian nation's continental shelf.