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“The Philippines' Foreign Ministry has undertaken due diplomatic enactment against China successful transportation with the "illegal presence" of a floating operation successful a disputed atoll,” the country's South China Sea task unit said connected Tuesday (June 9, 2026).
The task unit confirmed the beingness of a floating structure, measuring 6 by 6 metres, and featuring what appeared to beryllium an antenna successful the disputed Scarborough Shoal successful the South China Sea.
"The Philippine authorities volition proceed to instrumentality due actions accordant with planetary instrumentality and in defence of the country's nationalist interests," it said in a statement, adding that the extortion of Manila's sovereignty and jurisdiction "remains a paramount consideration."
“The structure, initially spotted astatine the entranceway to the shoal and aboriginal wrong its lagoon, appeared to beryllium manned,” the task unit said, citing the latest images from the equipped forces. The task unit did not accidental erstwhile the images were taken, but Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said connected the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue successful Singapore connected May 30 that helium had received earthy accusation indicating the beingness of the operation connected the shoal.
The task force said it is intimately monitoring developments and assessing the nature, intent and imaginable implications of the installation, insisting that Scarborough "is portion of the Philippines and wrong its maritime zones arsenic recognised by planetary law."
Satellite images obtained by Reuters connected June 5, 2026, confirmed the beingness of a operation astatine the lagoon's entrance, but aboriginal images showed it was nary longer present.
Scarborough is simply a premier sportfishing spot located 200 km (124 miles) disconnected the occidental seashore of the country. It is also 874 km from Hainan, China's nearest onshore mass. Since 2012, China has maintained changeless deployment of coastguard and maritime militia ships successful the area.
Sovereignty implicit Scarborough, which China calls Huangyan Island, has not been established, but a 2016 arbitral tribunal ruled mostly successful favour of the Philippines, saying China's blockade of the shoal violated planetary instrumentality and that the country was a traditional sportfishing crushed for respective countries.
