China has advised the Philippines not to "fantasize" that it can rely on outside forces to resolve the South China Sea dispute, Reuters reported, News.bg reports.
Beijing also called on the European Union to refrain from "creating trouble" in the region.
The statement was made by a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Manila after EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas visited the Philippine capital and expressed concern about China's actions in the strategic waterway. In this area, Chinese territorial claims overlap with those of several Southeast Asian countries.
“The EU is not a party to the South China Sea disputes and has no right to interfere in the disagreements between China and the Philippines“, the spokesperson stressed.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea - a region that also includes parts of the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016, an international arbitration court in The Hague ruled that Beijing's territorial claims had no legal basis under international law.