FILE - A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 29, 2014.

The Philippines' foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday, November 13, to protest against Beijing's establishment of baseline coordinates around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea,

China has rapidly expanded its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it had seized from the Philippines, a move that’s likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday posted online geographic coordinates for the baselines around Scarborough Shoal.

China is putting ever-greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.

China is stepping up pressure on the Philippines to concede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Manila's Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after meeting his Australian counterpart in Canberra.

China is putting ever-greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.