The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, in disregard of facts, made baseless attacks against China's legitimate and lawful law enforcement activities to safeguard our rights at Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands in the past few days, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said in a statement on Thursday.

The statements and remarks of the U.S. Embassy go against the spirit of international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It's a sinister attempt to endorse the Philippines' acts of infringement and provocation, the Chinese Embassy said, noting that "We deplore and reject it."

Ren'ai Jiao has always been China's territory. It is an integral part of China's Nansha Islands. The escalation of tension in the South China Sea has been inflated by the U.S. actions, it said.

"Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. has been blatantly emboldening the Philippines' acts of infringing upon China's sovereignty and inciting and supporting the Philippines' attempts to repair and reinforce its warship that was deliberately 'grounded' on Ren'ai Jiao," it noted.

The U.S. even sent over military aircraft and vessels to assist and support the Philippines, and repeatedly sought to threaten China by citing the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, it emphasized, adding that "What the U.S. does has seriously violated international law and the basic norms governing international relations, seriously undermined China's sovereignty and rights and interests, and seriously jeopardized regional peace and stability."

Ren'ai Jiao is a bilateral issue between China and the Philippines, it said, adding that China has all along been committed to properly managing differences through dialogue and consultation with the direct parties so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the South China Sea. 

"In seeking selfish geopolitical interests, the U.S. has incited troubles and magnified differences in the South China Sea. This is quite clear to countries in the region. Rather than being a self-claimed responsible power, the U.S. actually created many instabilities across the world, leaving behind one mess after another. Now it attempts to destabilize the Asia Pacific region. Such scheme is doomed to fail," the Chinese Embassy concluded.