(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest against China’s law giving its coast guard more freedom to fire on foreign vessels, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said.

“While enacting law is a sovereign prerogative, this one — given the area involved or for that matter the open South China Sea — is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law,” Locsin said on Twitter on Wednesday.

China Adopts Law Letting Coast Guard Fire on Foreign Vessels

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.