China's foreign ministry on Monday urged the Philippines to stop making irresponsible remarks and to stop trying to mislead the international community after the Philippines accused China of building "an artificial island" in disputed waters.

The Philippines said on Saturday that it had deployed ships to a disputed area in the South China Sea, where it accused China of building an "island" at the Sabina Shoal. 

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The coast guard sent a ship "to monitor the supposed illegal activities of China, creating 'an artificial island'," the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a statement, adding two other vessels were in rotational deployment in the area. 

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”The accusations made by the Philippine side against the Chinese side are groundless and purely fabricated," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

China claims almost all of the vital waterway, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that Beijing's claims had no basis under international law, a decision that China rejects.

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(Production: Wang Shubing, Xiaoyu Yin)