DFA tells Chinese embassy: Be calm, professional

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday, February 11, publicly urged the Chinese embassy in Manila to be “constructive in its statements” amid a word war between Beijing’s envoys and various individuals and agencies in government.

The statement comes days after the Senate approved and adopted a resolution condemning the Chinese embassy’s public criticism of Philippine officials, and after the Chinese embassy then responded to that resolution by labeling it as a “political stunt.”

“The DFA values candid and vigorous debate with its foreign counterparts on important issues consistent with the Philippines’ democratic tradition. While indeed the embassies have the duty to respond, the DFA urges that such responses be made in a calm and professional manner, conscious of the mutual respect that must prevail in all diplomatic interactions,” said Deputy Assitant Secretary Rogelio Villanueva Jr., the DFA’s newly announced spokesperson for maritime affairs, in a video statement released to the media.

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“As such, we urge the Chinese Embassy to be constructive in its statements towards a healthy dialogue despite major differences with a view to advance the overall bilateral relationship,” Villanueva, a former Navy and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) officer, added.

The Philippine Senate on Monday, February 9, approved a resolution condemning the Chinese embassy in the Philippines for remarks they’ve made, after days of deliberation and debate in plenary — including arguments from minority senators who did not want that resolution passed.

Both the Senate resolution and the DFA statement come after nearly two months of heated public exchanges between the Chinese embassy spokesperson and various agencies and personalities from Philippine government. In statements posted on their official social media pages, the embassy has used strong, sometimes incendiary language, against the spokesperson of the PCG, the Navy, various multi-agency bodies, and even members of Congress.

Chinese envoys have, in particular, targeted Commodore Jay Tarriela, a PCG spokesperson who is among the most vocal in the Philippine government on China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea. Tarriela is also a progenitor of the government’s transparency initiative or its campaign to expose Chinese actions in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) through near real-time release of photos and videos and media embeds.

The campaign has resulted in striking videos and images of China Coast Guard (CCG) ships using water cannons and aggressive manuevers against much smaller vessels of the PCG and even that of Filipino fisherfolk. Beijing has claimed that it’s Manila who is “provoking” them — even if all of these confrontations take place in waters where the Philippines should have sovereign rights.

The West Philippine Sea is a vast area that includes the Philippines’ EEZ and the waters that surround features that Manila claims. China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its territory, despite a 2016 Arbitral Award deeming that claim as baseless.

While China — whether through its military and coast guard ships at sea, or through its envoys’ statements — has always been aggressive in insisting on its claims, the Chinese embassy in Manila has taken a visibly more antagonistic tone since the arrival of Beijing’s new envoy to Manila, Jing Quan.

Beijing reacted strongest to a slide from a presentation Tarriela made before students, which included digitally altered, satirical depictions of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The embassy hit Tarriela for the image and summoned Manila’s envoy to China to formally protest it. In late January 2026, the DFA filed a protest against Beijing’s embassy here, although they did not summon Jing. – Rappler.com