At a regular briefing today, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China
has lodged a stern protest over what it called a malicious attack by Philippines
personnel on Chinese Coast Guard law-enforcement officers. China accused third
parties of ignoring Philippine infringement and provocation, unfairly blaming
China and continuing to promote the illegal and invalid South China Sea
arbitration ruling, which China firmly opposes. Lin said the South China Sea is
broadly stable due to China–ASEAN cooperation, and that deliberate Philippine
infringements are the root cause of recent maritime tensions. China added that
states not party to the dispute have no right to intervene and accused a small
group of countries of routinely exploiting incidents to oppose China.
