‘Illegal provocations on disputed areas coming from China’ – Lorenzana

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday maintained that illegal provocations on the disputed areas in the South China Sea were coming from China and not from the Philippines.

Lorenzana also took exception to claims by Chinese Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian that the Philippines was violating China’s sovereignty and security in sending patrol ships and aircraft to the Spratlys and other features being claimed by Beijing.

“Illegal provocations? That area is within our EEZ (exclusive economic zone). Their (China’s) so-called historical rights over an area enclosed by their nine-dash line doesn’t exist except in their imaginations,” Lorenzana said.

— Jeannette I. Andrade