MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Wednesday (Aug 9) denied making an agreement with China to remove a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost in the South China Sea, and said if there ever were such a deal, it should be considered rescinded.
The Philippines maintains a handful of troops aboard the World War II-era vessel named the Sierra Madre at the Second Thomas Shoal, known by Manila as Ayungin shoal, which is located inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
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.
“I’m not aware of any such arrangement or agreement that the Philippines will remove from its own territory its ship,” Marcos said in a video statement.
“And let me go further, if there does exist such an agreement, I rescind that agreement now”.
Jonathan Malaya, National Security Council assistant director general, earlier challenged China to produce evidence of the promise.
“For all intents and purposes, it is a figment of their imagination,” he said.
China’s embassy in Manila said it had no comment.