China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said it has “lodged serious protests” with the Philippines over President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s comments on Taiwan.

The Philippines “has kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, and kept harming the China-Philippines relations,” the ministry said in a statement.

Beijing was reacting to Marcos’ remarks earlier this week in an interview with Indian news website Firstpost that “there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it” in case there’s a confrontation between the US and China over Taiwan.

The Philippine leader said that’s because of his country’s geographic closeness to Taiwan, as well as the presence of Filipinos on the island. China claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, as part its territory.

The tension over Marcos’ comments on Taiwan adds to the lingering territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila over the South China Sea.

For its part, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it “highly commends and respects President Marcos for once again voicing his strong concern for regional peace and his emphasis on humanitarian values.”