Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos expressed alarm Wednesday over Beijing's actions in the South China Sea, following recent confrontations between the two countries in the disputed waters.
“We continue to view with great concern these dangerous maneuvers and actions that continue against our sailors and coast guards
,” Ferdinand Marcos said in an official transcript of his statements to the press.
Tensions in the South China Sea have escalated this week.
The Philippine coast guard accused their Chinese counterparts of causing collisions on Tuesday with two of their boats and injuring four of their personnel with water cannons near the disputed Second Thomas reef, a regular scene of confrontations.
“Unacceptable” incidents
“I think we cannot look at this other than in the most serious way
,” Ferdinand Marcos said.
“Once again, we will make our objections known and hope that we can continue to communicate to find a way to stop seeing such actions
,” he added.
Manila summoned a Chinese representative over these incidents on Tuesday and told him that it considered
these
“aggressive actions”
“unacceptable”
.
For its part, Beijing expressed
“strong protests”
following these incidents, Chinese diplomatic spokesperson Mao Ning reported on Tuesday.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the coasts of several neighboring countries, despite an international court ruling in 2016.