Marcos: Chinese ambassador's force remark ‘sounds very much like a threat’

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday, October 16, that Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan’s remark about China’s ability to use force “sounds very much like a threat and not a diplomatic statement to be made.”

Marcos told reporters the government would like to understand “what it is exactly he means.” Asked if he would summon the envoy, the president said: “It deserves a discussion between the ambassador and myself.”

The president weighed in after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), late Thursday, October 15, rebuked Jing for a “poor choice of words” that it said seemed to convey “a thinly veiled threat of the use of force.” The department asked diplomats in Manila to watch their language.

“The business of diplomacy requires tact and restraint in order to create space necessary for discourse, dialogue and engagement, regardless of the disparity in positions or perspectives,” the DFA said in a statement released late Thursday, October 15. It called the remark “hardly helpful” given the “complicated bilateral ties” between the two countries. 

Such language risks further eroding “mutual trust and confidence," the DFA added.

Jing uttered the remarks in question to reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of the second Diliman Dialogues, organized by the Philippines-China Studies Center of Diliman College in Quezon City.

Rejecting the "troublemaker" tag for China, Jing said: "If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not use force. You know, we love peace."

“Who is the troublemaker?” the Chinese diplomat asked. He cited efforts to “go after” Chinese teachers, the use of the army to arrest “innocent” Chinese workers, and daily “smear” attacks that he said were meant to incite hatred between the two countries. He said the Philippines “should feel fortunate” to have a neighbor like China in the region.

The exchange is the latest public clash between the Philippines and the Chinese Embassy since Jing arrived in Manila in December 2025. 

In January, the department made firm representations to Jing over the embassy’s increasingly combative social media posts targeting senators. Since then, there has not been a let-up in the tone and frequency of the embassy's public criticisms of Philippine officials expressing disagreement with Beijing's stance on the 2016 arbitral ruling and Manila's sea rights, among others. 

'Selective quotation' 

The embassy on Friday morning publicly responded to the DFA and argued its ambassador was the subject of "selective quotation." It said the DFA's admonishment was "regrettable."

“This kind of selective quotation and overinterpretation demonstrates that there is still a long way to go in fostering effective communication and dialogue between China and the Philippines,” the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy said relations were at “an extremely sensitive stage” and that “certain individuals,” whom it did not name, were trying to undermine exchanges between the two countries. It urged the DFA to “play a more responsible role” in preventing such actions.

Jing’s remarks on teachers appeared to refer to the recent withdrawal of about 150 Chinese volunteer teachers from Chinese-language schools.

The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. said the teachers were recalled at their parents’ request, with the approval of the federation and the embassy, after reports by Ray Powell of the monitoring group SeaLight raised suspicions about Chinese-language schools in the country.

The Chinese ambassador did not specify which worker arrests he meant, but Philippine authorities have detained hundreds of Chinese workers this year in raids targeting suspected human trafficking and illegal online gambling. The embassy has singled out a May raid on a steel plant in Misamis Oriental, insisting the Chinese workers held there had valid permits and blaming Teodoro for sending in the military to join the arrest.

Jing himself has warned that Manila faces a greater risk of confrontation unless direct military-to-military communication with Beijing, suspended by Teodoro, is restored. On October 12, the embassy accused Teodoro of shutting down those channels for “political self interests.”

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has backed Teodoro's action, saying this "direct communications has been used as a smokescreen by the Chinese Communist Party to perpetuate their illegal presence, coercive and aggressive actions and deceptive messaging not only on our maritime domain but even on land."