BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China's Foreign Ministry denied Wednesday that it was considering evacuating overseas Chinese from the Philippines, saying these reports were "fabricated and groundless."

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the remark in a press release, after being asked to confirm reports that the government was working on a plan to evacuate overseas Chinese from the Philippines.

    The reports said that the evacuations were being considered in light of an action by the Philippine government, which defined the Philippines' territorial waters as including the Huangyan Island and some Nansha islands.