Senator urges protest over Taiwan visit

Manila: The head of the Philippine Senate's foreign relations committee is urging a diplomatic protest over plans by Taiwan's defence chief and a group of legislators to visit the disputed Spratly islands.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, in a letter on Friday, says the planned visit to Taiwan's newly built airstrip on Taiping island "would constitute a provocative act on the part of Taiwan".

She also says it would violate a declaration by China and the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea.