An op-ed by a U.S. diplomat accusing China of eroding Myanmar’s sovereignty led to the two superpowers sparring online over who had the Southeast Asian nation’s best interests in mind, Bloomberg reported.

China is exploiting its smaller neighbour’s commodity industries and labour force, George N. Sibley, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, wrote on Saturday. The Chinese embassy there responded in a statement almost twice as long, saying American efforts to stigmatize the relationship between it and Myanmar are doomed to fail.

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar refuted Sibley’s statement on its website and Facebook page in both English and Burmese, saying he is “deliberately driving a wedge” between the neighbours. It is “selfish, hypocritical, contemptible and ugly,” the embassy’s spokesperson said.