Philippines Files Protest over Beijing’s ‘Escalatory Actions’ in South China Sea

This handout photo taken on January 11, 2025 and released on January 12 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing some 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers, 69 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon while being monitored by Philipine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua (not pictured). (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
This handout photo taken on January 11, 2025 and released on January 12 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing some 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers, 69 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon while being monitored by Philipine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua (not pictured). (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
TT
20

Philippines Files Protest over Beijing’s ‘Escalatory Actions’ in South China Sea

This handout photo taken on January 11, 2025 and released on January 12 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing some 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers, 69 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon while being monitored by Philipine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua (not pictured). (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
This handout photo taken on January 11, 2025 and released on January 12 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing some 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers, 69 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon while being monitored by Philipine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua (not pictured). (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)

The Philippines on Monday called on Beijing to desist from "escalatory actions" at a South China Sea shoal and said a protest has been lodged over the presence of Chinese coast guard, militia and navy in its exclusive economic zone.

The protest stems from the presence of two coast guard vessels on Jan. 5 and Jan. 10 in and around the disputed Scarborough shoal, one of which was a 165 m (541ft) long boat referred to by the Philippines as "the monster". It said a Chinese navy helicopter was also deployed in the area.

"The escalatory actions of these Chinese vessels and aircraft disregard Philippine and international laws," said the Philippines' national maritime council, an inter-agency group tasked with upholding the country's interests at sea.

"China should direct its vessels to desist from conducting illegal actions that violate Philippines' sovereign rights in its EEZ," it said in a statement.

China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China says the Scarborough Shoal is its territory and has accused the Philippines of trespassing.

Tensions between China and the US ally the Philippines have escalated the past two years, with frequent run-ins between their coast guards in the South China Sea, which China claims sovereignty over almost in its entirety.

The statement came just hours after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had a virtual call with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba where the three leaders discussed China's conduct in the South China Sea.

China's expansive claims overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The disputed waterway is a strategic shipping route through which about $3 trillion of annual commerce moves.

A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal said Beijing's claims, based on its historic maps, have no basis under international law, a decision China does not recognize.



Kremlin Says Putin Is Ready to Talk to Trump and Is Waiting for Word from Washington 

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
TT
20

Kremlin Says Putin Is Ready to Talk to Trump and Is Waiting for Word from Washington 

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to hold a phone call with US President Donald Trump and Moscow is waiting for word from Washington that it is ready too, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Trump said on Thursday he wanted to meet Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the war with Ukraine and expressed his desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms, something the Kremlin said Putin had made clear he wanted too.

When asked if Putin and Trump would use this weekend to hold their first phone call since Trump's inauguration - an essential precursor ahead of a face-to-face meeting for deeper talks - Peskov said:

"Putin is ready. We are waiting for signals (from Washington). Everyone is ready. It is difficult to read the coffee grounds here. As soon as there is something, if there is something, we will inform you."

Trump, who on Thursday was addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos via video link, said he wanted to work towards cutting nuclear arms, adding that he thought Russia and China might support reducing their own weapons capabilities.

"We'd like to see denuclearization ... and I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear. And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow, and China would have come along too," Trump said.

Peskov said Putin had made it clear he wanted to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations as soon as possible, but said such talks would need to be wider than in the past to cover other countries' nuclear arsenals, including those of France and Britain.

"So there is something to talk about, we need to talk. Time has been lost in many respects. We have spoken about such interest before, so the ball is in the court of the US, which has stopped all substantive contacts with our country," said Peskov.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, is due to run out on Feb. 5, 2026.

It is the last remaining pillar of nuclear arms control between the world's two biggest nuclear powers.

Peskov also took issue with Trump's assertion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was ready to strike a peace deal, pointing out that Zelenskiy had, in a 2022 decree, ruled out any negotiations with Putin.

"In order to reach a settlement, it is necessary to hold negotiations. (But) Zelenskiy has banned himself from conducting in his own decree."

Zelenskiy said this week that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers would be needed to prevent a new Russian attack on Ukraine after any ceasefire deal.