An undated handout photograph released by the Philippine military Western Command (WESCOM) yesterday shows an aerial view of BRP Sierra Madre, a 100m amphibious vessel built for the US in 1944 and acquired by the Philippine Navy in 1976, grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
PHOTO: AFP

The Philippines vowed yesterday to fight China “to the last man standing,” as a Chinese warship patrolled around a remote reef occupied by a handful of Philippine Marines in disputed waters.

In the latest flare-up over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea, the Philippines this week denounced the “provocative and illegal presence” of the warship and a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal.