Manila still trying to peddle proven lie: China Daily editorial

Since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office, the Southeast Asian country has employed several tactics to encroach upon China's maritime interests in the South China Sea. As the latest war of words over the "new model" continues, it seems an importunate Manila will persist with its infringements on China's maritime territories.

The "new model" agreement, reached between China and the Philippines earlier this year, was designed to better manage the situation at China's Ren'ai Reef. The Philippines has been squatting on the reef, which it refers to as Second Thomas Shoal, by deliberately grounding a World War II-era warship on it in 1999.

Since last year, the Philippines has stirred up trouble and raised tensions over the reef by not only sending supplies to its troops stationed on the vessel but also seeking to ship building materials to the vessel in an apparent attempt to prevent the ship from disintegrating. By so doing, it hopes to be able to make its seizure of the Chinese reef a fait accompli by establishing a permanent facility on it.

To mislead the international community, Philippine officials have repeatedly denied the existence of both the "new model" and a "gentleman's agreement" China had reached with the previous Philippine administration to allow only essential supplies to be delivered to the occupants of the stranded vessel.

On Wednesday, the Philippines' tricks were fully exposed when the Manila Times published a transcript of a phone conversation during which a Philippine admiral agreed to China's proposal of a "new model", under which the Philippines would use fewer vessels to resupply the troops stationed on the grounded warship, and notify Beijing about the missions in advance.

Yet even in the face of this confirmation that a "new model" had been agreed, some Philippine officials sought to brazen out their claim that no such understanding had been reached between the two sides. Philippine military chief Romeo Brawner Jr, for one, was quick to try to brush aside the transcript as "a malign influence effort" from China.

Claiming that transcripts and audio recording can easily be fabricated, he said that such reports only aim to serve as a distraction from the Chinese coast guard's ongoing aggressive behavior. Such remarks only serve to dig a deeper hole for Manila.

From concocting falsehoods to illegally using the "grounded" vessel as a garrison at the Ren'ai Reef and ganging up with forces from outside the region to back its illegal claims, Manila has got up to many antics. But the more tricks it plays, the more it discredits itself and the clearer countries in the region will see it is a troublemaker and shun it as a threat to regional peace and stability.