MANILA — The Philippines charged nine Chinese fishermen on Monday with poaching more than 500 endangered sea turtles at a disputed South China Sea shoal despite China's demand for them to be immediately freed. Prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez said two other arrested Chinese were minors and would be sent home. The nine Chinese have been charged with violating two provisions of the Philippine fisheries code, including illegally harvesting 555 endangered turtles, before a special environmental court in western Palawan province. Police arrested the fishermen and seized the boat that was allegedly laden with the giant turtles, most of them dead, last week at the disputed Half Moon Shoal. The arrests sparked the latest territorial spat between the Asian neighbors in the increasingly volatile South China Sea. China has pressed the Philippine government to free the fishermen and the boat, saying they were apprehended in Chinese territorial waters. Beijing warned Manila not to take any more “provocative actions so as to avoid further damage to bilateral relations.” The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila reiterated that the Chinese were arrested within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, the 230 mile (370 kilometer) stretch of sea where the country has exclusive right to fish and exploit undersea gas and oil deposits under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. — AP
