Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 24) — Maritime issues hounding the Philippines and China remain a “serious concern,” a senior Manila official said Friday, as both nations reaffirmed their vow to deal with ongoing tensions through diplomatic means.
\”The Philippines and China are in agreement that maritime issues do not comprise the totality of bilateral relations between our two countries. However, maritime issues continue to remain a serious concern to the Filipino people,\” Theresa Lazaro, undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said during the opening session of the 7th Bilateral Consultations Mechanism on the South China Sea.
Lazaro also recapped the meeting of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this year, where the two leaders agreed to strengthen dialogue mechanisms on the matter.
\”Both of our countries’ leaders agreed that maritime issues should be addressed through diplomacy and dialogue and never through coercion and intimidation,\” she stressed.
The DFA official likewise said the Philippine government \”intends to discuss in a frank manner\” the issues at hand, and aims to find \”mutually acceptable approaches\” to address them.
Topics the parties plan to tackle include fisheries cooperation and marine environment protection.
China continues to stake its claims over the resource-rich South China Sea, which includes the West Philippine Sea. This is despite a 2016 ruling of a tribunal in The Hague which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in the waterway and recognized Manila’s sovereign rights in areas of its exclusive economic zone.
The East Asian giant persists with its incursions in Philippine waters. Just this month, dozens of suspected Chinese maritime militia and coast guard ships were spotted in the vicinity of Pag-asa Island, authorities reported.
China, for its part, maintained its commitment to boost cooperation with its neighbor.
\”Maritime issues are an important part of China-Philippines relations that should not be ignored,\” Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong said in the same event.
