Duterte: China should temper its behaviour in disputed waters

The Philippine president has said that China's claim to airspace above newly built islands and surrounding waters in the disputed South China Sea "is wrong" and Beijing should not tell others to leave those areas to avoid possible clashes.

President Rodrigo Duterte's remarks in a speech to an audience that included the American ambassador and other foreign guests were a rare public criticism of China, which he has refused to antagonize to nurture closer relations.

"They have to rethink that, because that would be a flashpoint someday and even, you know, warning others," Duterte said yesterday of China's actions to uphold its claims in the disputed waters.

"You cannot create an island, it's man-made, and you say that the air above these artificial islands is yours." "That is wrong because those waters are what we consider international sea," the president said. He added that "the right of innocent passage is guaranteed. It does not need any permission to sail through the open seas."
Shortly afterward, the plane received a veiled threat: "Philippine military aircraft, I am warning you again, leave immediately or you will pay the possible consequences." The Filipino pilot later "sighted two flare warning signals from the reef," said the report,