China’s defence ministry has warned the Philippines against “self-inflicted destruction” by hosting US missile systems and denounced Manila’s plan to encourage fishermen to operate in disputed South China Sea waters.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Manila dismissed drug-smuggling allegations by Philippine military officials as “baseless slander”.
The US Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) anti-ship missiles, used in last month’s Balikatan joint exercise, would also remain as a “deterrent against coercion”, the Philippine military said.
Manila’s move to introduce these strategic weapons was “binding itself to the US war machine”, which would undermine regional security and stability and sabotage the common interests of regional nations, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in Beijing on Thursday.
“Inviting wolves into the house will backfire, leading to self-destruction. They will destroy their own homes,” Zhang said.
