Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 16) — During his meetings with Filipino officials last week, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi stressed the need to look at Philippine-China relations beyond the West Philippine Sea issue, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
“The Chinese side underlined the importance to view things from a strategic and overall perspective, set aside disputes and use political wisdom to advance joint development and make the pie of cooperation bigger,” the ministry’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters when sought for details on Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the Philippines.
Wang Yi met with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last July 6 to discuss ways to boost ties between the two nations, which have a long-standing sea dispute.
On the same day, he also met with his Philippine counterpart Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, as well as Vice President Sara Duterte.
According to China, the Marcos administration responded positively and expressed willingness to find a “friendly solution” to the maritime row.
“Both sides stressed that the South China Sea issue is not the sum total of bilateral relations,” Wang Wenbin said. “We cannot afford to allow specific differences to define our relationship or allow individual disputes to interfere with overall cooperation.”
China committed to work with the Marcos government on various areas of cooperation, including agriculture, infrastructure, and energy.
Despite the 2016 arbitral ruling largely favoring the Philippines, the Asian powerhouse continues to assert its sweeping claims over the West Philippine Sea which forms part of the resource-rich South China Sea.
Like former President Rodrigo Duterte who forged friendly ties with Beijing, Marcos earlier said he prefers holding bilateral talks with China to resolve the matter. He vowed to assert the Hague ruling and talk to China “consistently with a firm voice.”
