FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. will recommend the termination of contracts of Chinese firms found to be behind incursions in the South China Sea. Washington has been taking an aggressive stance against China’s incursions in the South China Sea. Earlier this August, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian flagged American presence in the South China Sea, saying they should stop “trying to make trouble” in the region. In 2016, a Hague-based international tribunal ruled as invalid Beijing’s sweeping territorial stakes in the South China Sea and recognized Manila’s sovereign rights within areas of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that China claims. Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan also have their own territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Source: Manila Times August 28, 2020 16:41 UTC