there is a saying, speak softly while carrying big stick. So nothing wrong with using softer diplomatic approach as long as you know you can beat them if you have too. The most important thing is to get what you want from diplomacy. If hard approach not working well, maybe a softer approach or maybe even harder approach is needed. Frankly, I never worried about Chinese diplomacy, coz China always has talented diplomatic corps. It is the propaganda dept that I feel hopeless with.

As for pinoys, in fact I think China need to be firm with it. Pinoys are trying to play China against the US. It want Chinese investment while at the same time it want the US to build military presence in their country. I think that should be a red line for China. This is not Duterte era anymore.