MANILA: China's ambassador to Manila has said Beijing could "easily win" a conflict with the Philippines, though it would never choose force, comments the archipelago nation said could be read as a "thinly veiled threat".
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, and Philippine and Chinese ships have engaged in repeated confrontations in recent years, some leading to collisions and injuries.
The ambassador's remarks came a day after Philippine defence chief Gilberto Teodoro labelled Beijing a regional "troublemaker".
"We should feel fortunate enough that you have a neighbour like China in this region," Chinese ambassador Jing Quan told local reporters in Manila on Thursday.
"If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not choose force, and we love peace," he said after giving a speech at a school in Manila.
Jing added that the troublemaker label was "nonsense", while accusing Manila of harassing Chinese workers and teachers, without offering specific examples.
In a response late Thursday, the Philippine foreign ministry bemoaned comments it said were "hardly helpful" given the two countries' complicated ties.
"It is regrettable that Chinese ambassador Jing Quan today had a poor choice of words that would seem to convey a thinly veiled threat of the use of force," it said in a statement.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela had earlier called Jing's pronouncement a "direct threat".
"No people feel fortunate when a larger neighbour repeatedly violates the law and then tells them to be thankful it was not worse," he said in a post on X.
"Not using force against a country whose rights you are already violating is not peace. It is coercion by other means!" he said, adding that Philippine coast guard personnel were often subjected to ramming and water cannons.
The Chinese embassy in Manila, while confirming Jing's remarks, accused Tarriela of taking them out of context and scheming to undermine bilateral relations.
"(Jing) emphasised that China views the Philippines as a neighbour across the sea and a friend bound to China by deep historical and cultural ties," it said, adding it sought only "stable relations".
Last week, the Philippine Coast Guard accused its Chinese counterparts of obstructing the medical evacuation of an ailing Filipino soldier near a disputed shoal in the contested South China Sea.
On Wednesday, Teodoro disputed Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte's characterisation of the Philippines as a troublemaker in Southeast Asia.
"China is the troublemaker, because as far as the South Pacific, they are interfering. They are even dropping missiles," he said, referencing a long-range ballistic missile test in June that drew regional protests.