Manila, March 10 -- Philippines Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo has dismissed Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's claim that the country's maritime actions are influenced by external forces, calling it a "distortion" of the real issue.

Manalo emphasised that the matter concerns the Philippines' national interests rather than being part of a strategic rivalry among major global powers, as reported by news website Rappler.

During a brief interview on the sidelines of a bilateral meeting with British Foreign Minister David Lammy, Manalo stated, "In a way, we're distorting the issue. It's being cast in the light of a strategic rivalry among the big powers, when actually, the issue is really an issue of Philippine interest and how it affects...