OFFICIALS of the Department of Foreign Affairs and their Chinese counterpart met yesterday for consultative talks on the South China Sea dispute issue amid continuing maritime tension.
The two-day talks, dubbed “23rd Philippine-China Foreign Ministry Consultation and 7th Bilateral Consultative Mechanism on the South China Sea,” was attended by DFA officials led by Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs Maria Theresa Lazaro and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, Ambassador to Beijing Jaime Florocruz, and Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian.
Lazaro said the Philippines is looking forward to using the consultations as an avenue to implement issues and consensus agreed upon by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.and Chinese President Xi Jinping when the former made a state visit to Beijing last January.
“Through these consultations or foreign ministry consultations, we hope to translate the outcomes of the state visit into concrete and high-impact engagements that mutually beneficial for our two countries and peoples,” Lazaro said in her speech opening the event.
She added the gathering also allows both countries to cover their overall relations compared to the bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea, which focuses only on maritime issues.
“I note that we have spoken already through our communication mechanism on maritime issues and I appreciate the brief and candid exchange we had some weeks ago,” she said without elaborating.
To recall, Manila filed a diplomatic protest last month against Beijing after a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel pointed a military-grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship escorting a resupply mission to a small detachment of Filipino troops in Ayungin Shoal.
Recently, the PCG also made public photos of CCG and maritime militia vessels near Pag-asa island in the Kalayaan Island Group.
‘FRIENDLY CONSULTATION’
Sun emphasized that the two countries should talk like friends in accordance with the consensus reached by Xi and Marcos Jr. in January. He did not dwell on the West Philippine Sea issue or the diplomatic protest filed by Manila over incidents of harassment by Chinese ships against Philippine ships.
“Their consensus has pointed the direction we need to make efforts in, and we need to comprehensively deepen our comprehensive strategic cooperation and enhance our cooperation in various practical areas and properly deal with our differences through a friendly consultation, and we need to keep the general directions of our friendly relations between our two countries,” Sun said.
He said that there is a need to strengthen bilateral relations as he said that Beijing will work not only with the Philippines but also with other countries toward economic development.
“As neighboring developing countries, China and the Philippines need to work together for our respective modernization and our respective development and rejuvenation,” he said, adding that in the fast-changing international landscape, China is prepared to work with the Philippines to boost ties and cooperation and to ensure peace and solidarity in the region.
The talks occurred amid deepening security relations between Manila and Washington.
Much to China’s irritation, Marcos earlier announced that the Philippines will open four additional military sites to US forces, on top of the five previously agreed on under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
In the EDCA sites, the Americans are allowed to preposition troops and assets, among others.
Marcos on Wednesday said the new EDCA sites will be “scattered around the country” as part of a defense strategy.
The five existing EDCA sites are Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Airfield in Cagayan de Oro, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu, and the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan.
The move is largely seen as part of efforts to deter China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea and against Taiwan.
China earlier accused the United States of dragging the Philippines into their geopolitical rivalry, saying the establishment of four additional EDCA sites may “seriously harm” Manila’s interest as well as peace and stability” in the region.
The latest EDCA deals underscore improved defense ties between Manila and Washington under Marcos.
Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had a prickly relationship with the US. In his six-year team, Duterte shifted Manila’s foreign policy away from Washington to pursue warmer ties with Moscow and Beijing, two of the US’ traditional rivals for influence in the region.
