WASHINGTON - The US stands with the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sept 12, rejecting what he described as China’s “destabilising plans” for a disputed atoll in the South China Sea.

“Beijing claiming Scarborough Reef as a nature preserve is yet another coercive attempt to advance sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at the expense of its neighbours,” he said in a statement.

Filipino fishermen fear Beijing’s plan to create the nature reserve could make it harder for them to operate in the atoll, which is under the constant watch of Chinese vessels.

lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but has been under Beijing’s control since 2012. China claims almost all of the South China Sea – a waterway carrying more than US$3 trillion (S$3.85 trillion) of annual commerce – despite overlapping claims by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Mr Rubio said China’s actions continued to undermine regional stability, calling on Beijing to abide by the Arbitral Tribunal’s unanimous 2016 decision that China had unlawfully prevented Filipino fishermen from engaging in traditional fishing at Scarborough Reef.

The Philippines on Sept 13 said it had sailed with the US Indo-Pacific Command and Japan’s navy off islands in Zambales province, whose coast is around 120 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal.