THE PHILIPPINES will “shoo away” unauthorized foreign vessels including Chinese warships that pass through its waters and use military force if necessary, the presidential palace said on Tuesday.

“If it will have to take that, we will do it,” presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo told reporters when asked if the government would use military force.

He said Chinese warships have repeatedly entered Philippine waters without notifying authorities, in violation of international law.

“Beginning today, all foreign vessels passing through our territorial waters must notify and get clearance from the proper government authority,” President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s spokesman said.

“Either we get a compliance in a friendly manner or we enforce it in an unfriendly manner,” he said. Philippine authorities would have to stop trespassers and tell them to move out, he added.

The Armed Forces has said at least five Chinese warships had passed through the Sibutu Strait in Tawi-Tawi province in southern Philippines without notice.

Jay L. Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, earlier said the Philippines should expect more frequent passage of Chinese warships through its waters as China expands its naval reach.

Mr. Panelo said Mr. Duterte would have to decide whether to bring the matter up when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.

The spokesman earlier said the president planned to invoke a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration panel in the Hague that rebuffed Chinese claims over parts of the South China Sea during.

The United Nations tribunal in July 2016 ruled China’s efforts to assert control over the South China Sea exceeded the law, rejecting its shared claims with Taiwan to more than 80% of the main waterway.

China rejected the decision of the international court, which has failed to halt its island-building activities in areas also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Mr. Duterte, who has sought closer investment and trade ties with China since he became president in June 2016, will also bring up the alleged ramming by a Chinese ship of a Filipino fishing boat at the Reed Bank in June, Mr. Panelo said.

Also yesterday, a Supreme Court magistrate said China claims a bigger part of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, disputing a claim by House Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano.

Justice Antonio Carpio said China claims 80% of the Philippines’ EEZ, contrary to what the lawmaker told a radio station that Malaysia and Vietnam occupy more islands than China.

“Vietnam and Malaysia do not claim any part of the Philippine EEZ in the West Philippine Sea,” Mr. Carpio said, referring to eastern parts of the South China Sea that are within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

On the contrary, China is the only country that claims areas within the Philippine EEZ, Mr. Carpio said in a text message.

Vietnam occupies 21 islands in the South China Sea, the Philippines has nine, Malaysia five, while China has eight including Scarborough Shoal, nine if Sandy Cay was included, he said.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Friday said Mr. Duterte should raise with Mr. Xi the unannounced entry of Chinese warships in Philippine waters.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. said at a Senate hearing on Monday he would fire off diplomatic protests after another over Chinese warships in Philippine territorial waters.

He also told the Senate foreign relations committee that the written request should use explicit, not diplomatic language. — Arjay L. Balinbin and Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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