Duterte asks military to tell China vast sea area 'is ours'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he answers questions from reporters during a press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Monday, March 13, 2017. The Philippine president has ordered the military to assert his country's ownership of a vast offshore region off its northeastern coast where Chinese survey ships have been sighted last year and alarmed defense officials. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) (The Associated Press)

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte listens as a reporter asks a question during a press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Monday, March 13, 2017. The Philippine president has ordered the military to assert his country's ownership of a vast offshore region off its northeastern coast where Chinese survey ships have been sighted last year and alarmed defense officials. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) (The Associated Press)

The Philippine president has told the military to assert the country's ownership of a vast ocean region off its northeastern coast where Chinese survey ships were seen operating last year.

President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he ordered the military to assert Philippine ownership of Benhan Rise to China in a friendly way, repeating that his country has no option but to be diplomatic because "I cannot match the might of China."

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said last week that the military had monitored Chinese survey ships crisscrossing the offshore region suspiciously from July to December last year, adding that the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf declared in 2012 that the undersea area was part of the Philippine continental shelf.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/duterte-asks-military-to-tell-china-vast-sea-area-is-ours