MANILA/BEIJING, July 22 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of the Philippines and China met in Manila on Wednesday and both made "strong" protests over an encounter between the two countries' vessels this week in contested South China Sea waters.

The flare-up came before Rubio is expected to visit Manila for meetings of Southeast Asian foreign ministers, with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi also in attendance.

China and the Philippines are locked in a war of words following a maritime encounter that escalated into physical confrontation. Manila reported that a navy personnel was struck…