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We firmly oppose certain Philippine official making irresponsible claims, inverting truth and falsehood, and wantonly smearing China, Chinese Embassy in the Philippines spokesperson Ji Lingpeng said in response to a reporter's question regarding erroneous China-related remarks by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, according to information released Wednesday on the embassy's official WeChat account.

Ji made the remarks when asked to comment about Teodoro's claim in an interview that China is "against the world in terms of freedom of navigation, in terms of norms," it has "an expansionist agenda," Beijing's intentions had always been "sinister" and "non-transparent" and the joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US are "an exercise of collective deterrence." 

In the past few years, certain forces in the Philippines have continuously provoked troubles at sea and drawn in countries outside the region to intervene in regional affairs, directly leading to the continuous heating up of the South China Sea issue and placing China-Philippines relations in serious difficulties, Ji said.

Ji noted that in recent times, through the joint efforts of both sides, China and the Philippines have resumed diplomatic dialogue and have successfully held three rounds of talks, personnel exchanges have increased, direct flights have been increasing, and economic and trade cooperation is facing new opportunities. Some anti-China forces then impatiently jump out, openly using various means to interfere with and sabotage these developments. Their purpose is very straightforward: China-Philippines relations must be worsened and cannot be improved, and the peoples of the two countries must be hostile and cannot become closer. But their plots and tricks will ultimately not succeed, because they stand in opposition to the peoples of the two countries and on the wrong side of history, the spokesperson noted.  

Unilateralism and hegemonic bullying have already caused profound disasters to the world. The current energy crisis is the best example. What the people need is peace, stability and development, not the introduction of external forces to show off strength and provoke more conflicts and confrontations. Those who rely on external forces to attempt to stir up major-power rivalry and profit from it are very likely to bring trouble upon themselves and become cannon fodders. We advise them to behave themselves and leave a way out for themselves, Ji added.

Global Times