South China Sea: Philippines’ Marcos ‘not aware’ of any agreement with China to remove warship

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Wednesday he was “not aware” of any agreement with China to remove a Philippine Navy vessel grounded on a reef in the disputed South China Sea.

Marcos’ remarks were in response to Beijing’s insistence in recent days that Manila had “repeatedly” promised to tow away the crumbling BRP Sierra Madre from Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

“I’m not aware of any agreement that the Philippines should remove from its own territory its own ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, from the Ayungin Shoal,” Marcos said in a video posted on the Presidential Communications Office’s Facebook page, using the Philippine name for Second Thomas Shoal.

“And let me go further, if there does exist such an agreement, I rescind that agreement as of now,” he said.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond to a request for comment about Marcos’ remarks.

China on Monday accused the Philippines of reneging on a promise made “explicitly” to remove the ship, which Manila grounded in 1999 to bolster its territorial claims in one of the world’s most contested areas.

The Philippines maintains a handful of troops aboard the World War II-era Sierra Madre.