China expressed firm opposition on Tuesday to a Philippine statement that interferes in the country's internal affairs, urging relevant individuals to stop making provocations and smearing China.
The Philippines' Department of National Defense issued a statement saying it "firmly rejects" recent commentary from China questioning the Philippines' legitimate security oversight of foreign-linked cultural and academic exchange programs.
In the statement, the department said it is gravely concerned about "the institutional risk posed by foreign legal frameworks."
This so-called statement is full of disinformation and smears, and constitutes a political provocation of an extremely malign nature, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in an online statement.
A small handful of individuals cooked up this so-called statement, issued in the name of a governmental department, to take hostage and disrupt China-Philippines relations in violation of the Philippines' commitments made in recent diplomatic communication, he said.
