Manila: The Philippines says a Chinese warship has entered an area it claims in the South China Sea and has run aground on a shoal, as tensions continue between the two countries over a separate territorial dispute.

Foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said Saturday that Manila wants Beijing to explain why the Chinese frigate became stuck on Half Moon Shoal, about 110 kilometres from the western province of Palawan. Defense department spokesman Peter Paul Galvez says a military aircraft spotted six other Chinese ships near the stricken vessel. Earlier this year Manila and Beijing became locked in a monthslong naval standoff at Scarborough Shoal, another area claimed by both nations in the South China Sea, after the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its waters.
PTI