About 500 activists held a prayer rally in Manila on Tuesday to end the longstanding tensions between the Philippines and China over the territorial dispute in the East Sea. Activists from the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance prayed that in China will promote peace instead of showing aggression on its to neighboring countries as in the past months. “We are your neighbors from ancient times. Let us help one another. We don't have to quarrel. Let us talk, let us have justice." said U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance founder Loida Lewis.

Tensions flared last month when China decided to establish a military garrison in the East Sea. This move drew protests from the U.S and the Philippines. The Philippines claims sovereign rights under the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its provision of a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. China refuses to accept international arbitration on the disputed Scarborough Shoal.