The dispute in the South China Sea continues! The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs rarely reiterates "civilian leadership" and warns its officials not to talk too much on China issues

The Philippines will host an important summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week, and U.S. President Trump is also expected to attend. At this sensitive moment, the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a rare tough statement on the 8th, rebuking its own government officials and military units, demanding that it must maintain a "unified tone" in its statements against China to avoid undermining the country's diplomatic mediation.

Agence France-Presse reported that in recent months, the Philippine military, Coast Guard and other uniformed forces have frequently exchanged heated words with the Chinese Embassy on social media over the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Last month, several Philippine senators even called for China's ambassador to the Philippines, Jing Quan, to be designated as "persona non grata" because Jing Quan suggested that China could "easily win" any confrontation with the Philippines.

In retaliation, Beijing deliberately downgraded only one embassy attaché to attend the recent ASEAN defense ministers' meeting.

Although the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not name specific incidents in its statement, it pointed the finger at the national security and military systems: "Public statements that undermine the government's foreign policy will not only make the work of diplomats more difficult, but will also damage the country's credibility in international affairs, expose the weakness of internal differences of opinion to the outside world, and then be exploited by external forces, ultimately weakening the Philippines' negotiating position."

The statement specifically emphasized that although the military's mission of collecting and recording conflict events on the front line is indispensable, "the country's international relations are dominated by the civilian government" and that the international arbitration result that overturned China's South China Sea sovereignty claims in 2016 was based on rigorous international legal procedures and not through a war of words on social media.

Chester Cabalza, director of the Philippine think tank International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), pointed out that the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ move is to assure opponents such as Beijing that the Philippines’ foreign policy is still under control and to reaffirm the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ dominance in the bureaucracy. During a phone call with Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro on the 3rd, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Manila to restrain politicians who "smear" Beijing and cross "red lines."

In addition to Trump, the newly re-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will also attend the ASEAN Summit in Manila this week. So far, Beijing has not announced which official will be represented at the meeting.