PHILIPPINE'S LAWMAKERS FILE MOTION CONDEMNING CHINA'S CLAIM

MANILA, Philippines-Manila Congressmen Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares filed a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning China's claim to Scarborough Shoal, which lies 230km west of Subuc Bay in central Luzon.
"We do not want to go to war, but we must assert our sovereignty, through whatever means we can," Casiño said.
The two also called for a congressional inquiry on the inability of the Armed Forces, the Philippine Navy, the Philippine Coast Guard to assert the country's sovereignty over the shoal.

• At the same time, Zhang Hua, Chinese embassy spokesperson in Manila, insisted that a Philippine-registered ship, MV Saranggani, had no right to help eight French archaeologists in salvaging a Chinese shipwreck near the Scarborough Shoal.
• Filipino scientists were also part of the archaeological team that has been studying a Chinese shipwreck near the Scarborough Shoal.
• "We urge the archaeological vessel to leave the area immediately," Zhang said in a statement.

Explaining China's right on the Scarborough Shoal, Zhang said the Philippines could not exercise sovereignty on areas already claimed in the past by China and other countries.
China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea, based on historical maps.

Source: Agency