Philippines tells China to be respectful, act in 'professional manner'

The Philippines on Wednesday told Chinese diplomats in Manila to be respectful and to act in a "professional manner" when issuing statements on its position on the South China Sea.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Rogelio Villanueva said while embassies have the duty to respond, such responses must be made "in a calm and professional manner, conscious of the mutual respect that must prevail in all diplomatic interactions."

Manila made the statement amid the ongoing heated exchange between Chinese embassy diplomats with Filipino officials, including some senators, defending the Philippines' maritime rights in the waters being claimed by China nearly in its entirety. 

Strongly worded statements and social media posts from the Chinese embassy have persisted even after the DFA made "diplomatic representations" to convey its serious concerns with the escalation of public exchanges.

The DFA said it values "candid and vigorous debate with its foreign counterparts on important issues consistent with the Philippines' democratic tradition," but reminded China that embassies should be "constructive in its statements towards a healthy dialogue despite major differences with a view to advance the overall bilateral relationship."

China insists ownership of almost 90% of the South China Sea, including areas that overlap with the Philippines' and other Asian nations' territorial waters.

Manila has renamed parts of the South China Sea nearest to the Philippine archipelago as West Philippine Sea.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan all have overlapping claims over the waters—a major trade route teeming with rich marine life and said to be harboring vast oil and mineral deposits. 

The Philippines challenged the validity of China's sprawling territorial claims in the South China Sea and sought to clarify the territorial entitlements of certain Chinese-occupied features under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, or UNCLOS. Manila won the case against China, which refused to recognize the ruling. — VDV, GMA Integrated News