China has summoned the Philippine ambassador to Beijing, doubling down on its protest against Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela for his “provocation” and “smear” of President Xi Jinping.

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the head of the Beijing Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in Philippine Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz on Thursday to compel the Philippines to stop “turning a blind eye” and “tolerating” Tarriela’s orchestrating a “smear campaign” against Chinese leaders, particularly Xi.

They accused Tarriela of “making inflammatory, confrontational, misleading, and baseless remarks against China on maritime issues,” which Beijing said was “unacceptable.”

“Time for the Philippine side to undo the negative impact as soon as possible and stop tolerating the smear campaign and provocations, lest they disrupt normal diplomatic communications or further harm bilateral relations,” Guo said.

Thursday’s protest followed a previous one the week before that was triggered by Tarriela’s Facebook post on 14 January.

That post featured Tarriela exhibiting a satirical AI-generated photo of Xi with the text, “Why China remains a bully,” at a forum at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.

The Chinese Embassy said Tarriela’s “malicious” social media posts against China were a recurring issue, stressing that the particular post constituted a “blatant political provocation” that had “crossed the red line.”

The embassy said Tarriela “persistently hyped up maritime issues, confounded right and wrong, misrepresented facts, incited confrontation, misled public opinion,” which jeopardized the ongoing diplomatic efforts to strengthen China-Philippines bilateral ties and de-escalate tensions in the disputed South China Sea (SCS).

Use diplomatic channels

Unfazed by the diplomatic protest, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) affirmed its support for Tarriela and other government officials and institutions “performing their lawful duties in defense of Philippine sovereignty.”

The DFA said any differences between the Philippines and China must be addressed through diplomatic channels rather than through public exchanges.

Tarriela had dismissed the Chinese Embassy’s protest against him, calling it a veiled effort to “deflect” the issue from Beijing’s relentless “aggressive and illegal actions” in the contested West Philippine Sea.

China’s seeking the intervention of the Philippine government over its “personal and professional” views in the WPS violate Article 41(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which prohibits state parties to the treaty from interfering with other states’ internal affairs, Tarriela said. Both the Philippines and China are parties to the Vienna Convention.

Furthermore, the PCG official asserted, China’s accusations of “smears” or “slanders” were misplaced because the reported incidents in the WPS were factual and were “backed by video evidence, photographs,” and satellite images from other countries.

The Philippines and China have long been embroiled in a maritime dispute over the SCS, which overlaps with the WPS.

China has persistently asserted its jurisdiction over the WPS, notwithstanding the 2016 arbitral ruling which deemed Beijing’s expansive claim to the entire SCS as invalid and baseless. The landmark decision affirmed the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone in the WPS.

Despite a pact to de-escalate tensions in the waters, China has maintained its aggression toward the Philippines using water cannons, military grade lasers, and by deploying missiles against Philippine troops and vessels.

CCG to the rescue

Meanwhile, in a break in the word war between the neighbors, Chinese coast guard ships pulled 17 Filipino sailors, including two dead, from the disputed waters of the SCS on Friday after their cargo vessel capsized, China’s military said.

The Singapore-flagged M/V Devon Bay and its crew of 21 Filipino seamen sent out a distress signal at around 8:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Thursday, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

China’s Southern Theater Command said the ship “lost contact approximately 55 nautical miles northwest of Huangyan Island,” using Beijing’s name for the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

The fish-rich shoal is a flashpoint of sometimes violent stand-offs between the Philippines and China, which both claim as part of their territory. The area is about 260 kilometers off the coast of the northern Philippines.

“Two nearby Chinese Coast Guard vessels immediately went to help with the rescue upon receiving orders,” the Southern Theater Command said in a post on social media network Weibo.

“As of 12:30 p.m., 17 people had been rescued, of whom 14 are in stable condition, two have tragically died, and one is currently receiving treatment,” the post said.

The search-and-rescue operation for the remaining four crew members continued.

Photos released by China’s embassy in Manila showed the rescued Filipino sailors receiving medical treatment.

A Philippine Coast Guard statement said the country’s own vessels were headed to the area, noting the ship’s position was “within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.”

The ship was listing 25 degrees when it called for help, it said.