China voices displeasure after high-profile Philippine military brass visit to disputed island in the South China Sea.
China has protested a visit by Philippine military chiefs to a disputed island in the South China Sea, but Manila maintained on Saturday it owns the territory where Filipino troops and villagers have lived for decades.
The public argument comes amid a thaw in once-frosty relations between the neighbours after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office last June and moved to rekindle Manila’s friendship with Beijing, which has been strained by long-seething territorial disputes.
Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and military chief of staff General Eduardo Ano flew to the island, which Filipinos call Pag-asa, with dozens of journalists on Friday to inspect an eroded airstrip.
The Philippine government plans to reinforce and lengthen the facility and build a dock starting next month to accommodate ships with construction materials, Lorenzana said.
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About $32m has been earmarked for the construction, including a fish port, solar power, water desalination plant, improved housing for soldiers, and facilities for marine research and tourists.
Accompanied by military top brass, Lorenzana and Ano also met Filipino troops and villagers and took part in a flag-raising ceremony on Pag-asa, which is internationally known as Thitu and is called Zhongye Dao by China. It’s the second-largest island in the South China Sea’s hotly contested Spratlys archipelago.
