Despite Tuesdy's incident of dangerous maneuver that led to a collision of ships from both sides, China denied anew committing any harassment against the Philippines.
"There is no such situation of China 'harassing' the Philippines," Mao Ning, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Monday, March 4.
Yet, in less than 24 hours since Mao made her remark, a video released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday morning, March 5, contradicted Mao's stand.
The video showed a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel blocking the route of a smaller ship of its Philippine counterpart.
"Their reckless and illegal actions led to a collision between MRRV-4407 and China Coast Guard 21555 that resulted to minor structural damage to the PCG vessel," Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman, said in a post on X.
In an interview in Melbourne on Monday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo urged China to "stop harassing us."
If Beijing would refrain from its harassment, then "there wouldn’t be any news to report" about its aggressive activities, Manalo added.
China then retaliated, saying that "the reason behind the recent maritime developments," which pertains to its actions in the waters, "is that the Philippines has frequently made provocative moves in the South China Sea, infringing on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests."
"China has taken necessary measures in accordance with law to defend its own sovereignty, rights and interests," Mao added.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in Washington rejected yet another remark by China.
In a statement, the Philippine embassy said Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez was "not a mouthpiece for another country," contrary to allegations made by the Chinese embassy in Manila on Sunday, March 3.
The Philippine embassy also said Romualdez was not spreading erroneous China threat and Sinophobia remarks—another claims made by the Chinese embassy against the Philippine envoy.
"[Romualdez'] statement regarding the developments in the South China Sea have been consistent with the position expressed by the Philippine Government's highest officials, particularly regarding the threat posed by unlawful, aggressive and provocative actions of the Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia against Philippine vessels and personnel and Filipino fishermen," the Philippine embassy said.
"Moreover, conflating Philippine efforts to defend its territorial and maritime entitlements with serving the interests of another country negates the Philippines' legitimate rights and interests to protect and defend our nation's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea," it added.
The embassy warned that the government "will not stand for" such an action being done by China.