MANILA, Philippines – More Chinese barges have appeared at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off Zambales, and for that President Duterte said he would confront Beijing’s Ambassador Zhao Jianhua.

Duterte said he received intelligence reports last Thursday regarding the growing presence of Chinese barges in the area, about a hundred nautical miles from the coast of Zambales and several hundred miles from the nearest Chinese coast.

Zhao has met with Duterte five times since the latter’s inauguration in June.

“The problem here is we do not know the intentions of China. Because if it continues building military installations there, everything will blow up… it would be a source of conflict,” Duterte said yesterday at the inauguration of the Davao International Container Port.

“What I want to know is if there is additional construction going on especially in the area of Masinloc. Do you have additional construction in Masinloc?” he said.

Bajo de Masinloc is another name for Panatag Shoal.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/09/03/1619871/chinese-barges-panatag-irk-rody