China’s embassy in Manila claimed Thursday, April 18, that a Philippine lawmaker’s attempt to investigate the increasing number of Chinese students in Cagayan, one of the provinces near Taiwan, incites hatred of China.

As Cagayan 3rd District Rep. Joseph Lara filed a House resolution calling for probe into the alarming rise of Chinese students enrolled in higher institutions, the embassy only dismissed his concern, saying that it is only “hyping up China-Philippines maritime issues.”

It argued that the two countries have long enjoyed geographic proximity and cultural ties, so the pace of educational exchanges and cooperation has grown, "supporting a deeper mutual understanding between our two peoples and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation."

Lara's move, the embassy said, is only exaggerating the current South China Sea issue supposedly “in the name of national security to serve their political agenda and self-interest and undermine China-Philippines cooperation."

“The unfounded accusation of our educational exchanges is yet another malicious sleight of hand to incite suspicion and hatred of China,” it said.

Amid Lara's call for a probe, the embassy noted the "McCarthyism," or a political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence, that is supposedly resurrecting in the Philippines.

"This deserves high vigilance and must be resolutely opposed," it said.