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philippines tell China It was alarmed by a heated exchange with Chinese diplomats on Monday Manila The two countries have long-standing and fierce territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Manila’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had “made solemn representations to the Chinese Ambassador and the Chinese Embassy to express serious concerns over the escalation of public interactions,” without elaborating.
It warned that a heated, tit-for-tat exchange with China could “unnecessarily undermine the diplomatic space needed to manage maritime tensions,” but nonetheless expressed support for Philippine officials, including some senators, who defend the country’s territorial interests in the South China Sea.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Beijing Last week it said it summoned Philippine Ambassador Jaime Flocruz to protest comments by Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Talila, one of the most vocal critics of China’s increasingly assertive actions in disputed waters.
Although a 2016 arbitration ruling invalidated Beijing’s broad claims under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, China effectively claims the entire waterway – a vital global trade route. Beijing did not participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013 following a territorial confrontation and continues to ignore the ruling.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei Taiwan It was also involved in a territorial standoff.
Confrontation on the high seas between China and the Philippines has particularly intensified in recent years. Unlike other claimants, the Philippine government has publicly condemned China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters and released videos and pictures of Chinese troops using powerful water cannons and dangerous interception exercises.
“We reiterate our previous statements affirming support for our officials in fulfilling their legitimate duties to defend Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said. “Their perspectives and diverse voices are an inevitable part of the robust diversity of thought that drives our democratic society.”
The Chinese Embassy protested Talliera’s remarks, saying Talliera “continues to hype maritime issues, confuse right and wrong, distort facts, incite confrontation, mislead public opinion, damage China’s national interests and dignity, and affect mutual trust.”
“I firmly oppose your ignorant and arrogant views,” Guo Wei, deputy spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, said of Talila in a recent statement.
Talila responded to Guo Wei in a social media post.
“I’m starting to think that you enjoy using social media platforms in the Philippines because you don’t have such freedoms in your home country,” he wrote.
Philippine Senator Hontiveros said in a speech on Monday that Chinese diplomats violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by publicly condemning and trying to limit the views and criticism of Philippine officials in their own country.
Hontiveros also called the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines a “bad guest.”
China’s diplomatic mission in Manila recently criticized Hontiveros and said it had no intention of silencing anyone in the country but would respond to any attempts to “smear” China and its leaders.
“Are you really safeguarding the interests of the Philippines and Filipinos? Or are you just pursuing your own political interests?” the Chinese embassy asked Hontiveros, who is considered a possible contender in the 2028 presidential and vice-presidential elections.