The Philippines has renewed its firm stance against China’s recent diplomatic and narrative offensives over the South China Sea, rebuking remarks from Chinese embassy officials and rejecting attempts to distort international legal findings. Philippine officials reiterated that aggressive rhetoric and mischaracterizations of the 2016 Arbitral Award undermine regional stability and contradict established international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Commentary and legal analysis published in local media have emphasized the importance of correcting public misinformation about the 2016 ruling, warning that historical revisionism and selective legal interpretation risk weakening both domestic understanding and international support. Analysts underscored that the arbitral decision remains final and binding, and that efforts to misrepresent its conclusions serve political, not legal, ends.

At the diplomatic level, the Philippines also reaffirmed that any future Code of Conduct in the South China Sea must be firmly grounded in international law, not shaped by unilateral power or coercion. Officials stressed that a rules-based regional framework—anchored in UNCLOS and the 2016 Award—is essential to ensuring peace, protecting sovereign rights, and preventing further escalation in contested waters.