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MANILA - The Philippines needs to be cautious in considering if it will emulate Vietnam, which has emerged as the most vocal opponent of China’s territorial claims in disputed waters, Malacañang said Wednesday.

The 3 countries, as well as Brunei and Malaysia, have competing claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea, a conduit for some $3.4 trillion of goods.

Since emerging from decades of diplomatic isolation in the early 1990s, Vietnam has been eager to improve ties with large powers and the region to help balance its historically thorny relations with China. It has also been buying US military hardware, such as an armed Hamilton-class Coast Guard cutter, to patrol the waterway.

Asked if Manila will follow Vietnam's template, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Manila has to be cautious.

"Stages iyan e. Kung di mo makuha sa santong dasalan, e di sa santong paspasan naman. Kailangan calibrated ang mga responses mo d'yan. Tingnan muna natin," he told ANC.

"Ganyan talaga ang diplomasya, kailangan dahan-dahan ka, naglalaro kayo pareho e," he added.

(That has stages. If you can't get it through prayer, act audaciously. Your responses there should be calibrated. Let's look into it first. Diplomacy is like that, you need to go slowly because you're both playing there.)

A United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016 favored Manila and invalidated Beijing's claims to nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea.

President Rodrigo Duterte that year said he would "set aside" the arbitral ruling, which China refused to recognize, as he sought closer ties with the Asian giant.

The Philippines, however, recently lodged diplomatic protests over the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the area and slammed Beijing's extraction of clams there.

"Our responses are studied, calibrated, depends on the situation," said Panelo.

"We just don't make reckless statements the moment we hear about a report that certain persons do these things... We have to validate that first. When we validated that, then we make very strong statements," he added.

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Manila, he said, is "appreciative" of Beijing's help with rebuilding the war-torn city of Marawi, its infrastructure drive and the rehabilitation of drug suspects, but that the government "will not allow any intrusion" into its territory.

There may also be a need to increase the presence of the Philippine Coast Guard in the waterway, he said.

"If we don't have that numbers, then we must purchase, maybe, vessels," said Panelo.

With a report from Reuters