CNN —The Philippines on Tuesday said it had successfully delivered supplies to marines aboard the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated military outpost in the contested South China Sea, despite attempts by Chinese vessels to block the mission. Liu said two Philippine supply vessels and two marine police vessels entered the waters “without the permission of the Chinese government.”The South China Sea has long been a source of tension between Manila and Beijing. Beijing claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea, as well as most of the islands within it, even those hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to various atolls, sandbars and islands of the sprawling South China Sea. Manila’s territorial claims are backed by the international Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which ruled in 2016 that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

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Persons: Thomas, Renai, Liu Dejun, Liu, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, ” Marcos Jr Organizations: CNN, BRP, BRP Sierra Madre, National Task Force, West Philippine, China Coast Guard, Chinese Maritime Militia, Philippine Coast Guard, China, China’s, Guard, “, Court Locations: Philippines, BRP Sierra, China, Beijing, South, United States, BRP Sierra Madre, Philippine, Manila, The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hague, South China