China Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERSMANILA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Wednesday denied making an agreement with China to remove a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost in South China Sea, and said if there ever were such a deal, it should be considered rescinded.
China on Monday accused the Philippines of reneging on a promise made "explicitly" to remove the ship, which was grounded in 1999 to bolster its territorial claims in one of the world's most contested areas.
Jonathan Malaya, National Security Council assistant director general, earlier challenged China to produce evidence of the promise.
China and the Philippines have been embroiled for years in on-off confrontations at the shoal, the latest on Saturday.
China has built militarised, manmade islands in the South China Sea and its claim of historic sovereignty overlaps with the EEZs of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
Persons:
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Thomas Shoal, I'm, Marcos, Jonathan Malaya, Thomas, Jay Batongbacal, Neil Jerome Morales, Karen Lema, Martin Petty
Organizations:
Coast Guard, China Coast Guard, REUTERS, National Security Council, Philippines, China, South China, University of the, Thomson
Locations:
Philippine, REUTERS MANILA, China, South China, Philippines, Sierra, Manila, reneging, China's, Sierra Madre, Malaya, South, Thomas Shoal . China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, University of the Philippines