Manila

In another show of China's plummeting ties with its neighbours, protesters in Manila trampled on an effigy of Chinese top leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday (April 9) to condemn Beijing's maritime aggression against the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea which China has managed to popularise as South China Sea. 

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The protestors marched towards China's consulate in the Filipino capital Manila as they chanted "China leave". Others called out Beijing for its "aggression against the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea. 

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China's maritime belligerence in the region has increased in recent past. Last month, a Chinese vessel used water cannon to disrupt a Filipino supply mission to soldiers stationed on a grounded warship in the Philippines' Second Thomas Shoal which Beijing claims as its own. 

Also read | Video: Chinese action causes near-collision of Philippine civilian vessel in South China Sea

"Our message is addressed to the Chinese government: move out of the West Philippine Sea, dismantle its illegal structures ... recognise the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling, and stop the harassment of Filipino fisher folk and ... Philippine supply missions," said Mong Palatino, one of the protest leaders, news agency Reuters reported.

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Beijing claims West Philippine Sea, which is more than 1,000 km away from the Chinese mainland, almost in its absolute entirety. A series of Chinese coastguard vessels surveil the region with Philippines' guarding its sovereign waters. 

A 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration found Beijing's claim to almost all of West Philippine Sea as groundless. The court  in The Hague pointed out that China's sweeping claims over waters also claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have no legal basis.

But China does not accept the ruling. 

China has also constructed artificial islands in the region. It has further fortified them to lay maritime claims in the region.

(With inputs from agencies)