An aerial view of Thitu Island in the South China Sea on Feb. 21, 2026. Jam Sta Rosa/AFP via Getty Images
The Philippines said on March 16 that it rejected Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over the entire South China Sea and denied a claim by China’s embassy that a Filipino diplomat had conceded 36 years ago that the disputed Scarborough Shoal was not part of its territory.
Rogelio Villanueva, a spokesman for the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), told a briefing that the Philippines had “indivisible, incontrovertible and longstanding sovereignty” over Scarborough Shoal and several islands in the Spratly archipelago.
