China said the US should stop supporting the Philippines, which it claimed was making illegal claims over the West Philippine Sea.
Mao Ning, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, on Thursday said "the US is not a party to the South China Sea issue" after President Joe Biden warned that an armed attack on the Philippine public vessel would invoke Washington's mutual defense treaty with Manila amid Beijing's aggression in the waters.
Mao also said the US "has no right to interfere in the issue between China and the Philippines."
"The US defense commitment to the Philippines should not undermine China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in South China Sea, nor should it support the illegal claims of the Philippines," she added.
The Philippines' claims over the West Philippine Sea, a part of the bigger South China Sea that China claims in its entirety, is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 Arbitral Ruling issued by The Hague.
The Philippines operations are also being conducted within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
In an earlier statement, the Chinese Embassy in Manila also accused the US of creating "instabilities" around the world as it called out the latter for meddling in China's issue with the Philippines on the South China Sea.
It claimed the US is attempting to "destabilize the Asia-Pacific region," but it expressed confidence that "such scheme is doomed to fail."
"In seeking selfish geopolitical interests, the US has incited troubles and magnified differences in the South China Sea," the Chinese Embassy said, claiming it was "quite clear to countries in the region."
"Rather than being a self-claimed responsible power, the US actually created many instabilities across the world, leaving behind one mess after another," it added.
The Chinese Embassy’s remark stemmed from the US Embassy in Manila's echoing of the US State Department’s support for the Philippines in the Ayungin Shoal issue after a dangerous maneuver by China against a Philippine boat that led to a collision in the Philippine waters.
“By conducting dangerous maneuvers that caused collisions with Philippine resupply and Coast Guard ships, the PRC Coast Guard and maritime militia violated international law by intentionally interfering with the Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation,” the State Department’s statement read.
The Chinese Embassy said its US counterpart in Manila supposedly disregarded facts and "made baseless attacks against China’s legitimate and lawful law enforcement activities to safeguard our rights at Ren’ai Jiao in China’s Nansha Qundao in the past few days."