The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines opposed the accusation of a Philippine Navy officer who identified China as the source of the 1.5 tons of illegal drugs recently seized by the authorities in the West Philippine Sea.

"We?firmly?oppose?the?baseless?and?malicious?accusations?made?by?certain?individuals with the intention?to?smear?China. Driven?by?selfish?political?motives?and?acting?as?pawn?of?the?US?Indo-Pacific?strategy,?certain?individuals?within?the?Philippine?military?have?been?exploiting?maritime?issues?to?provoke?and?escalate?tensions," the Embassy said in a statement.

"Such?a?stance?does?not?help?in?solving?problems.?On?the?contrary,?it?has?become?the?root?cause?of?distrust?and?the?stumbling?block?to?dispute?resolution. We?urge?certain?individuals?in?the?Philippine?military?to?refrain?from?malicious?attacks?against?China," it added.

The remarks of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines was issued after Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea revealed that the P10 billion worth of illegal drugs seized by authorities last June 20 has "markings that appear to be Chinese characters" and noted that the foreign national aboard the intercepted fishing vessel is a "Chinese Malaysian citizen."

Trinidad said flooding the country with illicit drugs could be part of China's effort to destroy the future of the new generations of Filipinos.

"We don't have to look far. from the side of law enforcement, they look for evidence. In the military, we look for indicators. It appears that it is not far-fetched that this could be another effort of the Chinese Communist Party to destroy the future generation of Filipinos by flooding our country with illicit drugs," he said.

"To undermine the future generation of Filipinos, to destroy the future of the country, they are flooding the country with illicit drugs, illegal drugs to destroy the minds of the young generations," he added.

According to the Philippine Navy the fishing vessel reportedly received the illegal drugs from a ship in the West Philippine Sea. The vessel carrying Methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu was intercepted around 50 to 60 nautical miles from the coast of Zambales. Robina Asido/DMS