Mamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima fact-checked the Chinese Embassy regarding its criticisms on the Philippines in connection with the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue, and castigated it for its "selective amnesia" on key details.

"First of all, the Philippines has no overlapping EEZ (exclusive economic zone) with China," De Lima said in a statement on Tuesday night, Jan. 13.

"China is around 900 kilometers away from the Philippines at their nearest points between Hainan and Palawan. Calculating a 300 kilometer EEZ for both countries from their respective baselines, that still leaves a healthy 300 kilometer buffer zone between them," she said.

This was a direct response to the Chinese Embassy's earlier statement, wherein it rejected the Philippine National Maritime Council’s recent remarks on the WPS.

The Chinese Embassy statement says that the Philippines has always blurred the distinction between a territorial sea and an EEZ. It then enumerated several acts by the Philippines that supposedly “provoked tensions” in waters claimed by both countries as part of their respective EEZs, going as far back as the grounding of the BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal.

It also hits at the Philippines’ supposed unwillingness to sit down and talk the way China has supposedly resolved its territorial disputes with other countries.

De Lima brushed this off as "Orwellian doubelspeak".

"The problem from the very start is China’s nine-dash line claim. Regardless of the distinction between a territorial sea and an EEZ, it does not really matter because China itself is guilty of the most absurd disregard for legal distinctions when it claims the whole of the South China Sea as its territorial waters," De Lima said.

"There is nothing that blurs the distinction between territorial sea and EEZ more than China’s preposterous and infantile nine-dash line fairy tale that, surprisingly, it keeps on using in serious international legal forums, expecting the rest of the world to be so stupid as to take it seriously," added the former senator.

De Lima further blasted China for "conveniently skipping" its own history of aggression in the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal in its litany of so-called provocative actions of the Philippines.

"China has selective amnesia about its island-building in the Spratly Islands. China now has seven military outposts in the area which are the largest among claimant countries," she pointed out.

"It also failed to mention its own aggressive actions against Philippine fisherfolk and PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) personnel when it purportedly defends an imaginary Chinese coast 1,000 kilometers away from China," noted De Lima.

The House deputy minority leader also defended PCG Spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela, which the Chinese Embassy criticized for allegedly spreading ”twisted, manipulative, and provocative narratives” that pushes the Philippines to conflict with its “friend”, China.

"It is not the Philippines’ fault when the Chinese ram their own ships while chasing PCG vessels," De Lima said.

She accused Beijing for espousing "ambitions for regional dominance".

"China says defending what is rightfully ours under international law is not to our benefit as it deprives us of their friendship. Of course, China is not offering friendship as it is demanding capitulation," she warned.

"They are not asking us to be their friends. They are asking the Philippines to be their vassal. That is what the intimidation, aggression, and violence in the WPS is all about," De Lima said.

As a parting shot, the congresswoman said: If the Chinese Embassy chooses to spread lies about China’s aggression in the WPS and target Philippine officials for doing their job in calling out said aggression, instead of letting Beijing itself dish out the hostility, it might as well stop pretending to be a diplomatic mission and convert itself into just another Chinese troll farm.