China said the Philippines risks "confrontation" if it insists on pursuing talks to allow Filipino fishermen to use the Philippine-owned Scarborough Shoal based on the award granted it July 12 by the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Chinese Foreign Secretary Wang Yu made the threat to novice Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay when the two met privately on the sidelines of the recently concluded Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Mongolia.

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Yasay said Wang told him that if the Philippines "will insist on the ruling, discussing along those lines, then we might be headed for a confrontation."

Yasay previously told Wang the Philippines rejected outright China's demand it disregard the award in its favor bestowed by the arbitral tribunal as a prelude to discussions on Scarborough Shoal. The arbitral ruling declared illegal China's claims to own most of the South China Sea based on China's legally baseless "historical rights" doctrine and demarcated by its illegal "nine-dash line."

The arbitration court ruled Beijing violated the Philippines' sovereign rights to exploit resources in waters up to 340 kilometers beyond its coast, or its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

China immediately rejected the arbitration ruling, a stand for which it was taken to task by the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries attending ASEM. China illegally seized Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012. This incident caused the Philippines, then led by President Benigno Simeon Aquino, to sue China before the arbitration court in The Hague in 2013.

Yasay said Wang wanted the Philippines "to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and in disregard of the arbitral ruling."

Yasay replied this was impossible.

"This is something that I told him was not consistent with our Constitution and our national interest," said Yasay.

Direct talks between Manila and Beijing are not forthcoming, said Yasay.

TagsPhilippines, china, Perfecto Yasay, Wang Yu, nine dash line, Permanent Court of Arbitration