By refusing to discuss its South China Sea dispute with China at the bilateral level, the Philippines is once again whipping up a war of words with China. Manila's irresponsible stance will do a disservice to the upcoming meeting between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over key documents related to managing the disputes in the South China Sea.

On Monday, in response to a statement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the weekend, Raul Hernandez, the spokesman of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, described the Chinese statement as "baseless" and China's position over the waters as "rigid". He went even further and said that "it has, therefore, become impossible to continue bilateral discussions" on the disputes.

Manila should know that both China and ASEAN support resolving the disputes at the bilateral level, as the disputes only involve China and a few ASEAN members. Manila should also be fully aware of the fact that China and ASEAN are pressing ahead with their consultations on a code of conduct on implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.