The Philippines has dismissed China's proposal for dialogue over the South China Sea dispute.

The Philippines Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay on Tuesday replied to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's recent proposal for bilateral talks to resolve the territorial dispute over the South China Sea, saying that the offer was not consistent with country's national interests.

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Yasay said Manila rejected the offer because Beijing had asked to hold talks without any regard for the ruling of an international arbitration tribunal.

"They had insisted for us to not even to make any comments about that... and had asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of the arbitral ruling," Yasay said, the Philippines Star reported.

He also revealed that the Chinese Foreign Minister had warned him of a possible confrontation if Manila maintained its support of the tribunal's verdict. "They said that if you insist on the ruling and discussing it along those lines, then we might be headed for a confrontation," he said, the BBC reported.

"China should rethink its position on the nine-dash line claim over the disputed sea following the arbitral tribunal's ruling as they may lose the respect of the international community," Yasay stated.  

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled last week that Beijing's claims to historical rights in the disputed waters has no legal authority. The Philippines had questioned China's claim to the disputed territories in the South China Sea in its case at the UN-backed tribunal. China, however, dismissed the ruling maintaining that it has ''indisputable sovereignty' over the contested region.

Tagschina, Philippines, South China Sea, Tribunal