Philippine president to summon China's ambassador over a threat of force

If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we'll not use force. We love peace.

— Jing Quan, China's ambassador to the Philippines

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday the remark sounds very much like a threat and deserves a discussion between him and the ambassador.

The Philippine foreign ministry called the words a "thinly veiled threat of the use of force", and the Chinese embassy answered with "selective quotation and overinterpretation".

The two countries have sparred for years over reefs and islands in the South China Sea that lie in the Philippine exclusive economic zone.