The Philippines has pledged to block any attempts by China to build permanent structures at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

A floating Chinese platform at Scarborough Shoal has revived fears in the Philippines that Beijing could be taking another incremental step towards turning one of the South China Sea’s most sensitive disputed features into a permanent outpost. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Tuesday it would not allow any structure to be built at the shoal, nearly three weeks after satellite images first showed a possible floating platform there. “We are not allowing that to happen. We’re not...