There is no gray area on the Taiwan question, and the Philippine side should abide by the one-China principle with concrete actions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday.

Mao made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on attempts by the Philippines to explore deeper cooperation with the Taiwan region to address so-called "gray zone" activities despite Manila's one-China policy.

"Any external exchanges conducted by China's Taiwan region must be handled in strict accordance with the one-China principle," Mao stressed.