South China Sea: Philippines denies striking deal with Beijing on disputed Second Thomas Shoal

China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Teodoro’s comments outside office hours.

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Beijing and Manila have repeatedly clashed in recent months at the submerged reef, which Philippines says is in its exclusive economic zone but which China also claims.

The Philippines had accused China of blocking manoeuvres and firing water cannons at its vessels to disrupt supply missions to Filipino soldiers stationed in a naval ship which Manila deliberately grounded in 1999 to bolster its maritime claims.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion in annual ship commerce. Its claims overlap with those of the Philippines and four other nations. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing rejects.

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Why is the Philippines aligning itself with the US after years of close China ties under Duterte

Teodoro called China’s claims of a bilateral agreement “part of the Chinese propaganda”, adding that the Philippines would never enter into any agreement that would compromise its claims in the waterway.

“The narrative that unnamed or unidentified Chinese officials are propagating is another crude attempt to advance a falsehood,” he said.

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Южно-Китайское море Томас-Шоале ударный сделка спор Теодоро посольство запрос офисный