China's embassy condemns Philippine envoy's remarks on South China Sea

China's embassy in the Philippines on Sunday said it "strongly" condemns the Philippine ambassador to Washington's recent China-related remarks, saying they "disregarded basic facts".

The remarks "wantonly hyped up the South China Sea issue and made speculations and malicious smears against China," the embassy said in a statement.

Jose Manuel Romualdez said on Wednesday that while the United States sees both the South China Sea issue and a potential Taiwan conflict as "serious concerns", he believed the "real flashpoint is the West Philippine Sea" given "all of these skirmishes happening there."