BEIJING —
Beijing accused the Philippines on Friday of “illegally” sending three aircraft into airspace over the disputed South China Sea, adding to long-standing territorial tensions between the two countries.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has brushed off competing claims by the Philippines and other countries, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said Friday that two Philippine C-208 and one N-22 aircraft “illegally ventured into the airspace around China’s Nansha islands and reefs,” also known as the Spratly Islands, a day earlier.
The Chinese armed forces “maintained control…