MANILA — A senior official of the Philippine Coast Guard rejected China’s claim that a supposed 1990 letter from a Filipino diplomat proves the Philippines conceded sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, calling the assertion misleading and a distortion of historical records.

Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, the PCG spokesperson on West Philippine Sea issues, said the document being circulated by the People’s Republic of China cannot be treated as an official renunciation of Philippine claims.

“The PRC’s attempt to present this 1990 letter as proof of Philippine concession over Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) is misleading at best and a deliberate distortion at worst,” Tarriela said in a post on X.

Tarriela was referring to a letter allegedly written in 1990 by former Philippine ambassador Bienvenido A. Tan Jr. to a German radio hobbyist.

According to Tarriela, the letter merely pointed out that the shoal lies outside the colonial limits defined under the Treaty of Paris of 1898, but it also noted that the area is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Scarborough Shoal—locally called Bajo de Masinloc and known in China as Huangyan Dao—has long been a point of tension between Philippines and China, particularly since the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff, when Chinese maritime forces took control of the area after a confrontation with Philippine vessels.

The shoal is located about 124 nautical miles, or roughly 230 kilometers, from the coast of Zambales.

Tarriela said an ambassador does not have the legal authority to relinquish or abandon a country’s territorial claims under international law.

He cited former Supreme Court of the Philippines associate justice Antonio Carpio, who previously said that only statements issued by a head of state or a foreign minister can bind a country on matters involving sovereignty.

Tarriela also stressed that the letter was simply “casual correspondence to a private individual” and should not be interpreted as a formal admission by the Philippine government.

He added that citing the letter disregards the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration, which determined that the shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and invalidated China’s sweeping historic rights claims in the South China Sea under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China had previously publicized the supposed letter years earlier, but its renewed circulation appears intended to bolster Beijing’s territorial claims in the disputed waters, Tarriela said.

“The fact remains: China has not once exercised sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc. The PRC claim is bogus and has no credible historical basis,” he said.