China Coast Guard's measures against Philippine vessel legitimate, reasonable: spokeswoman

The China Coast Guard (CCG)'s measures against a Philippine Coast Guard vessel were legitimate and reasonable, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

Mao's remarks came in response to a question about the Philippines' false claims about transferring an injured person from an illegally grounded vessel near Ren'ai Jiao, Nansha Qundao of China.

"On Thursday morning, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel, without China's permission, intruded into the adjacent waters of Ren'ai Jiao, Nansha Qundao of China. China Coast Guard took legitimate and reasonable measures to handle the situation in accordance with laws and regulations," Mao said.

"After communication between the two sides, out of humanitarian considerations, China gave timely permission to the Philippine side to evacuate injured personnel by small boat and provided necessary facilitation. Instead of acknowledging China's facilitation, individual Philippine officials have distorted facts and wrongfully accused China without showing the whole picture to the public. This once again reveals their intention of provoking China and staging publicity stunts, which is rather despicable," Mao said.

China will not waver in responding to any provocation and safeguarding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, said the spokeswoman.

China Coast Guard's measures against Philippine vessel legitimate, reasonable: spokeswoman

China Coast Guard's measures against Philippine vessel legitimate, reasonable: spokeswoman

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic on Friday in Beijing. The two sides exchanged views on bilateral economic and trade relations.

He, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China always attaches high importance to growing its economic and trade ties with the European Union (EU) and stands ready to work with the European side to fully implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two sides.

He called on the two sides to give full play to the role of the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism, uphold the new positioning of China and the EU as each other's stable and balanced key trading partners, maintain ongoing dialogue, properly handle differences, and advance the sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

Sefcovic stated that China is an important economic and trade partner of the EU. The EU is ready to continue advancing the trade and investment consultation, step up communication and jointly promote cooperation, he added.

Chinese vice premier meets European commissioner for trade, economic security