Despite sporadic skirmishes between China and the Philippines over Ren'ai Reef in the South China Sea, the situation in the recently disputed waters has remained, by and large, peaceful over the past few months. This has catered to the interests of both parties, as well as the region as a whole.

Yet, the farce staged by Manila on Sunday in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, lays bare the fact that Manila is once again trying to stir up the troubled waters. In a media statement issued before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario accused China of keeping a "massive presence" of military and paramilitary ships at two groups of islets "within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone".

Manila is not in the position to point an accusing finger at China's activities in these waters. The two groups of islets he was referring to were Huangyan Islands and Ren'ai Reef, and China holds irrefutable evidence to support its sovereignty over them.