China has asked the Philippines to remove a grounded warship used as a military outpost from a disputed shoal. The renewed call came yesterday after Manila rejected Beijing's earlier demand. The move comes after the Philippines accused the China Coast Guard of firing water cannon, against boats on a resupply mission to its garrison stationed on the grounded vessel. The vessel has long been a flashpoint of maritime dispute between Manila and Beijing. 

The BRP Sierra Madre, a World War Two-era vessel, is now being used as a military outpost on Second Thomas Shoal by the Philippines to press its stake in the Spratly Islands. It was deliberately grounded in 1999 in an effort to check the advance of China in the hotly contested waters. Meanwhile, tensions have soared between the two neighbours over the South China Sea, with Manila pivoting back to the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Philippines Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro yesterday to discuss the alliance between the two countries. Japan and France, have also expressed concern over China's recent actions and repeated their support for a 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing's expansive South China Sea claims.