Malacañang has denounced China’s move to rename five undersea features in the Philippine Rise (Benham Rise) and has protested through the Philippine Embassy in Beijing.

“We object and do not recognize the Chinese names given to some undersea features in the Philippine Rise,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said in a statement on Wednesday, a day after Jay Batongbacal, a maritime law expert, was quoted in a report as saying that the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) approved five names China proposed in 2017.