THE United States has urged China to cease its destabilizing military activities and threatening rhetoric toward Taiwan, warning it could heighten tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. In a press statement shared by the US Embassy in Manila on Thursday, Thomas Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the US Department of State, said Washington remains deeply concerned over Beijing’s increasing military pressure not only on Taiwan but also on other countries in the region. “China’s military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan and others in the region increase tensions unnecessarily,” Pigott said. He called on Beijing to instead “engage in meaningful dialogue.” The statement comes amid recent Chinese military drills, patrols and aircraft incursions near Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory. Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of more than 23 million people, rejects China’s sovereignty claims, while the US maintains unofficial relations with Taipei and is its primary security partner. Pigott reiterated Washington’s long-standing position supporting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and opposing any unilateral attempt to change the status quo. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, it is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide the island with defensive arms and to maintain the capacity to resist any use of force that would jeopardize its security. China’s embassy in Manila has rejected remarks by Sen. Francis Pangilinan criticizing Beijing’s military activities around Taiwan, reiterating that Taiwan is an “inalienable part” of Chinese territory and warning Philippine officials against what it called interference in China’s internal affairs. In a statement issued on Jan. 1, the embassy said the Taiwan issue is “purely China’s internal affair which brooks no external interference,” stressing that the fundamental status quo across the Taiwan Strait is that both sides belong to “the same China.” It said China “firmly rejects” what it described as Pangilinan’s “wrongful statement.” Pangilinan had said China’s two-day military drills encircling Taiwan spread anxiety not only among the Taiwanese people but also among Filipinos working, living and spending the holidays on the island. “It is the season of goodwill, but China’s two-day military drills encircling Taiwan have brought ill will all around, to the Taiwan people, to Filipinos working, living and spending the holidays there, and to people across East and Southeast Asia,” Pangilinan said. The embassy underscored that the one-China principle is a “prevailing international consensus” and the political foundation of China’s diplomatic relations with 183 countries, including the Philippines. It noted that Manila made a clear commitment to the one-China policy when it established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1975. “China calls on relevant Philippine figures to abide by the commitment of their government, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop aiding and abetting separatism for ‘Taiwan independence,’” the embassy said. Pangilinan also warned that peace could not be achieved through “threats of invasion, expanding foreign basing or war games.” The Philippine government has repeatedly said it adheres to the one-China policy, while emphasizing the importance of peace and stability in the region, and the protection of Filipinos overseas. In a related development, Chinese state-linked media have launched a coordinated campaign portraying Beijing as a responsible environmental steward of Bajo de Masinloc, while casting Filipino fishermen and lawful Philippine activities as ecological threats. According to prominent civic leader Jose Antonio Goitia, the messaging — often presented in scientific language and delivered in a measured tone — aims to legitimize Chinese control while marginalizing Philippine sovereignty. Goitia said such narratives cannot alter established legal and historical facts, noting that Bajo de Masinloc is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as affirmed by the 2016 arbitral ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “This is not the first time power has tried to dress occupation in softer words,” said Goitia, chairman emeritus of Alyansa ng Bantay sa Kapayapaan at Demokrasya and the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Reforms. “Today, the costume is conservation.” He said that long before Chinese patrols or policy pronouncements, Filipino fishermen had already maintained a continuous presence in Bajo de Masinloc. “Our fishermen did not arrive at Scarborough (another name for Bajo de Masinloc) as violators. They arrived there as sons of the sea, continuing a livelihood older than any modern claim,” Goitia said. He said China’s own reports acknowledge that the reef ecosystem at the shoal remains generally healthy, a fact he said undermines accusations that Philippine fishing activity has caused environmental damage. “If the reef is healthy, the accusation against our fishermen collapses,” he said. “If it is not, any fair assessment must account for years of sustained maritime presence, blockades and imposed restrictions by external actors.” China has also pushed territorial claims over Palawan, a position Philippine authorities and legal experts have repeatedly dismissed. “Palawan has never been Chinese territory, by history, treaty or law,” Goitia said. “It is an integral part of the Philippine archipelago, recognized under international agreements and continuous Philippine administration.” He warned that leaving such assertions unanswered risks normalizing misinformation about Philippine sovereignty. The Philippine government, he said, has responded through legal clarity and institutional action rather than public spectacle. Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Philippine Coast Guard has continued to maintain presence in contested waters, protect Filipino fishermen and professionally document incidents at sea. “This is not posturing. It is governance,” Goitia said. “Sovereignty is decided by law, history and the dignity of a people who refuse to be written out of their own seas.”