(Bloomberg) -- Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin ordered his department to immediately file a fresh diplomatic protest against China after the military confirmed the presence of Chinese vessels near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
“I’m in Moscow. Do I have to fly home to file” the diplomatic protest myself?, he tweeted Wednesday. “File now!!!”
Locsin, who’s among officials accompanying President Rodrigo Duterte on his visit to Russia this week, was reacting to a BusinessWorld story that reported a Chinese Coast Guard vessel was spotted 4 to 5 nautical miles from the Philippine-occupied shoal.
The government has filed about 60 diplomatic protests against China since Duterte assumed office in 2016, according to Locsin. His department has initiated protests at every Chinese intrusion in the South China Sea, he told lawmakers last month.
China claims over 80% of the South China Sea, through which vast amounts of trade passes and which is estimated to hold billions of dollars worth of gas reserves. Duterte has maintained friendlier ties with China by downplaying the sea dispute in the hopes of getting more loans and business deals.
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