Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario will visit China on Thursday to discuss rising tensions over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea, his office said.

The two-day trip comes amid a new row over the territorial dispute which this week saw a Chinese embassy official banned from the Philippine foreign department premises.

"Secretary del Rosario says he expects to discuss the West Philippine Sea issue, although this particular issue is not the sum total of Philippines' relations with China," a department statement said Wednesday.

The term "West Philippine Sea" is used by the Philippine government to refer to sections of the South China Sea that it claims as part of its territory. The area overlaps with those claimed by China.

Del Rosario is to call Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and meet Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the statement said.

He will also take up other issues such as trade, investment, tourism, defence cooperation, education, science and transnational crimes.

A spokesman for President Benigno Aquino separately told reporters that his government's main concern was "to make sure that we will have a peaceful resolution to the problem in the (West) Philippine Sea."

"That is what Secretary Del Rosario is looking forward to, thats why hes (going to) China to discuss these concerns as well," said Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

The Filipino leader previously said he expects to make his own visit to China this year.

Del Rosario's trip comes amid rising bilateral strains with the Philippines accusing China of recently making aggressive moves in the strategic and potentially resource-rich South China Sea, particularly in the Spratly islands.

In the latest row, the Philippine foreign department said in an internal memo that the Chinese embassy's first secretary Li Yonsheng was no longer welcome at its premises.

It accused Li of verbally abusing a Filipino official at a June meeting on the rival claims.

In a barbed reaction to the unsigned statement, which was shown to the press Tuesday, Chinese embassy spokesman Sun Yi told AFP: "We don't want to comment on the remarks by someone who hides his or her name."

The Philippines has previously accused Chinese forces of opening fire on Filipino fishermen, shadowing an oil exploration vessel employed by a Philippine firm and putting up structures in Philippine-claimed areas.

In the latest incident, it said an unidentified foreign plane harassed a group of Filipino fishermen in the South China Sea last month with a flyover that the navy said appeared to be a warning.

The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, each claim all or part of the South China Sea -- particularly the Spratlys, a chain of islets in the area that are believed to sit on vast mineral resources.

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