China protests Philippines' action

China has lodged a strong protest against the Philippines for passing a bill that asserted its claims to China's Huangyan Island and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. Filipino President Gloria Arroyo signed the 2009 Baseline Bill into law on Tuesday. Both chambers of the Filipino Congress last month passed the bill.

China's Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue on Thursday urgently summoned the Filipino ambassador and lodged the protest.

Hu reaffirmed China's stance on the issue, emphasizing that the claim to territorial sovereignty over the islands by any other country was illegal and invalid. China asked the Philippines to abide by its commitment and immediately stop all activities that infringed upon its sovereignty and complicated and magnified the South China Sea disputes, Hu said.