Philippines protests China’s floating ‘structure’ on disputed South China Sea shoal

MANILA, Jun 9 : The Philippines has protested China’s deployment of what Manila describes as a floating “structure” with personnel on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, fearing it could be a part of Beijing’s effort to turn the uninhabited atoll into an island base, Philippine officials said Tuesday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said, without elaborating, that it lodged a protest over China’s latest action on the Scarborough Shoal, which was spotted by the Philippine military and coast guard. China dismissed Manila’s concern and reiterated that it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the shoal and adjacent waters, without…