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Philippines Accuses China of Poisoning Disputed Waters

An aerial view of what Philippine Coast Guard alleges were Chinese vessels, manned by Chinese maritime militia loitering within the vicinity of Thitu Island, one of nine features occupied by the Philippines in Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea, March 9, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view of what Philippine Coast Guard alleges were Chinese vessels, manned by Chinese maritime militia loitering within the vicinity of Thitu Island, one of nine features occupied by the Philippines in Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea, March 9, 2023. (Reuters)
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Philippines Accuses China of Poisoning Disputed Waters

An aerial view of what Philippine Coast Guard alleges were Chinese vessels, manned by Chinese maritime militia loitering within the vicinity of Thitu Island, one of nine features occupied by the Philippines in Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea, March 9, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view of what Philippine Coast Guard alleges were Chinese vessels, manned by Chinese maritime militia loitering within the vicinity of Thitu Island, one of nine features occupied by the Philippines in Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea, March 9, 2023. (Reuters)

The Philippines accused Chinese fishermen on Monday of pouring cyanide in waters in the Spratly Islands, a flashpoint in the disputed South China Sea that has been the site of violent confrontations with Chinese vessels.

Beijing claims the strategic South China Sea in nearly its entirety, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

The Philippines' National Security Council (NSC) alleged the poisoning began last year around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly chain, which sits near vital shipping lanes and is reputedly rich in minerals, said AFP.

"The use of cyanide on Ayungin Shoal is a term of sabotage that seeks to kill local fish populations, depriving Navy personnel of a vital food source," NSC assistant director-general Cornelio Valencia told a news conference, using the Philippines' term for the reef.

These actions also "threaten our Navy personnel" through exposure to contaminated water, eating poisoned fish, as well as eroding corals, Valencia added.

Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the hotly contested waterway, including a violent clash in June 2024 in which Chinese coastguard personnel wielding knives, sticks and an axe reportedly boarded Philippine Navy boats.

China's foreign ministry branded the fresh accusations a "farce".

It is "completely unbelievable and not even worth refuting", spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing on Monday.

"The Philippines has illegally harassed Chinese fishing vessels engaged in normal fishing activities, robbing fishing people of their supplies," he added.

- Cyanide bottles -

Valencia said Manila had raised the alleged poisoning with Beijing at a recent meeting but has received no formal reply.

He added that reef damage from cyanide poisoning could also compromise the structural foundations of the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era warship on which the Filipino troops are stationed.

Manila deliberately grounded the vessel on the shoal in 1999 to stake its claim to the territory.

Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said Filipino troops had seized 10 bottles of cyanide from sampan boats launched from Chinese fishing ships in February, July and October 2025.

He said that soldiers observed another Chinese sampan crew poisoning waters near the shoal last month, adding that the shoal's waters later tested positive for cyanide.

None of the troops aboard the warship have tested positive for the poison, Trinidad added.

Valencia and Trinidad both alleged the fishermen's mother ships worked for the Chinese Navy.

Valencia said the NSC planned to submit a report next week to the Philippine foreign ministry which could become the basis for a diplomatic protest.

Manila has also ordered the navy and coastguard to step up patrols "to prevent further environmental harm" in the area, he added.

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World

Italian PM Condemns ‘Unacceptable’ Trump Criticism of Pope

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures in the Senate chamber during the briefing to Parliament on the government's activities in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2026. (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures in the Senate chamber during the briefing to Parliament on the government's activities in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2026. (EPA)
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Italian PM Condemns ‘Unacceptable’ Trump Criticism of Pope

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures in the Senate chamber during the briefing to Parliament on the government's activities in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2026. (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gestures in the Senate chamber during the briefing to Parliament on the government's activities in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2026. (EPA)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday condemned US President Donald Trump's criticism of Pope Leo XIV as "unacceptable", after the US pontiff spoke out against the Middle East war.

"The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn all forms of war," she said in a statement.

It represents a rare rebuke of Trump by Meloni, a far-right leader who has sought to be a bridge between the conservative US president and European leaders.

Meloni earlier put out a statement supporting Pope Leo's efforts at peace and reconciliation in a trip to Africa, which began Monday, just hours after Trump launched a scathing criticism of the first US pontiff.

"I thought the meaning of my statement this morning was clear, but I will restate it more explicitly. I find President Trump's words about the Holy Father unacceptable," she said.

Speaking to reporters late Sunday, Trump said he was "not a big fan of Pope Leo", accusing the pontiff of "toying with a country (Iran) that wants a nuclear weapon".

The president later doubled down on his comments with a post on Truth Social, saying: "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," he said.

His comments drew outrage from many Italian politicians, while Catholic bishops from the United States and Italy were quick to defend the pontiff.

Leo himself told reporters on the plane to Algeria -- the first stop on a four-nation tour that also takes in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea -- that he had a "moral duty" to speak out against war.

"I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel," he said.

World

Middle East Ceasefire a ‘Priority’, China’s FM Tells Pakistan

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi waves after a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing, China, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi waves after a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing, China, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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Middle East Ceasefire a ‘Priority’, China’s FM Tells Pakistan

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi waves after a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing, China, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi waves after a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC), in Beijing, China, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)

Maintaining a ceasefire in the Middle East war is an "immediate priority" for resolving the conflict, China's top diplomat told his Pakistan counterpart in a phone call on Monday.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said on Monday that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "holding" and that efforts were underway to reach an agreement after talks in Islamabad at the weekend failed to do so.

"The immediate priority is to make every effort toward preventing the resumption of hostilities and to maintain the hard-won ceasefire momentum," Wang Yi told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Wang said a joint peace plan by China and Pakistan announced last month as the two officials met in Beijing "still can serve as a direction for efforts toward a resolution".

World

UN Maritime Chief Says No Country Has Right to Close Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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UN Maritime Chief Says No Country Has Right to Close Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

The head of the UN maritime agency said Monday no country had a legal right to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a trade passage paralysed by the US-Iran war.

The International Maritime Organization's Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez addressed a news conference as access to the strait remained blocked six weeks after the war erupted with US and Israeli strikes against Iran.

The United States had threatened to begin a blockade on Monday of Iranian ports in and around the strait, which Tehran's forces have been controlling access to since after the war broke out on February 28.

"In accordance to international law, no countries have the right to prohibit the right of innocent passage or the freedom of navigation through international straits that are used for international transit," Dominguez said.

Iranian authorities have been allowing a trickle of vetted vessels to pass the strait through a route close to their coast and in some cases have reportedly levied a payment to let vessels through.

"This principle of introducing a toll on an international strait for international navigation is against the international law of the sea and the customary law," Dominguez said.

"It will create a very dangerous precedent."

The US vow to blockade Iranian ports meanwhile "doesn't make it any easier", he added.

"De-escalation is what is going to start helping us to address the crisis and to bring shipping back to the way that we used to operate."

He predicted that the extra impact of a US blockade on shipping would be negligible, however.

"With the very few number of ships that have managed to transit, an additional blockade is not going to exacerbate the situation in a level that it could be perceived."