MANILA — The Philippine foreign ministry on Monday summoned China’s ambassador to express its “serious concern and strong objection” about remarks by the envoy that it said conveyed a threat of the use of force.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro summoned Ambassador Jing Quan and told him comments he made to media last week were “provocative and unacceptable”, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Mr. Jing had told reporters that China “may easily win” in a confrontation with the Philippines, but Beijing would not use force because “we love peace”.
He was responding to a question about the Philippine defense secretary describing China as a regional troublemaker.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
