China demands Philippines remove grounded ship from disputed waters

China Tuesday renewed calls for the Philippines to remove an ageing ship from a reef which Manila uses to press its stake in the Spratly Islands in defiance of Beijing's claim to nearly the entire South China Sea. 

The move comes after the Philippines at the weekend accused the China Coast Guard of firing water cannon against boats on a resupply mission to its garrison stationed on the grounded vessel.

The BRP Sierra Madre -- deliberately grounded in the late 1990s in an effort to check the advance of China in the hotly contested waters -- has long been a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing.