"But now with the sea lanes, they have to stay [inside the lanes ... maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal told reporters during at the Manila Dialogue on the South China Sea on Friday. But professor Hu Bo, a Chinese maritime strategy and policy expert ...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed two laws reaffirming the extent of his country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea, where the new laws clash with Beijing’s extensive territorial claims.

BEIJING (AP) — China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it had seized from the Philippines, a move that’s likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims.

China firmly opposes the Philippines' Maritime Zones Act, which it says "severely infringes on" the its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday in a statement.

BEIJING >> China rejected Philippine maritime claims on Sunday, saying new legislation “severely infringes on” Beijing’s territorial sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea, and vowing to protect its own interests.

The move from Beijing comes just a day after the Philippines signed two laws defining the country’s maritime zones

The Chinese government reaffirms its opposition to the Philippines' new maritime law as it delimits and declares Beijing's "baselines" of the territorial sea adjacent to Scarborough Shoal, or what it calls Huangyan Dao.

The Philippines recently passed two major laws— the Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act—to strengthen its control and authority over its territorial waters. These new laws aim to protect the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its maritime zones,