The leaders of China and the Philippines have vowed to expand bilateral ties between the two nations, with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos saying he looks forward to a state visit to China.
A Chinese statement released following talks on Thursday between Marcos and Chinese President Xi Jinping said the Philippine leader pledged his nation would not “choose sides” in diplomacy and would jointly “resist unilateralism and bullying acts”.
Statements by the Philippines did not include those remarks, but said Marcos described the meeting as “a very pleasant exchange” and that the two leaders spoke about plans for his state visit to China in early January.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
The two leaders discussed strengthening and expanding the Philippines-China relationship, particularly in agriculture, energy, infrastructure and people-to-people connections, the Philippine statement said.
The leaders met in person for the first time on the sidelines of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon, only a few days after United States President Joe Biden visited the region to strengthen America’s partnership with Asean, and two months after Biden’s bilateral meeting with Marcos on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
As one of the major rival claimants over the South China Sea, key member of Asean and a defence ally of the United States, the Philippines is critical to both Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and Beijing’s regional strategic and geopolitical plans.
Since Marcos came into office in June, Xi has repeatedly expressed a willingness to strengthen ties, and hopes for the Philippines to “maintain an independent foreign policy”, which means reducing the influence of the US.
Philippines says it’s ‘committed’ to speeding up projects under US defence pact
Manila has carefully balanced its relations with China while maintaining close relations with the US. Earlier this week, it was announced the US would spend $66.5 million to start building training and warehouse facilities at three of its military bases in the Philippines under a 2014 joint security deal.
At Thursday’s meeting, Xi promised major infrastructure projects through the Belt and Road Initiative to the Southeast Asian country and offered cooperation on agriculture, clean energy, education, public health and other areas. He also said China would increase imports of Philippine agricultural products.
With Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, China pledged a combined US$24 billion in loans and investment in 2016. Beijing has restarted talks with the Philippines over funding billions of US dollars worth of infrastructure projects after Marcos called Beijing out for falling short of old pledges.
As the two countries have hugely overlapped claims to the South China Sea, which is frequently a source of tension in their ties, Xi told Marcos on Thursday that China and the Philippines should resolve their maritime disputes through consultation.
“As long as maritime relations remain stable, the general situation of the Sino-Philippine relations will be stable and the friendly and cooperative relations will be taken to a new level,” Xi said.
In September, their initial talks on potential oil and gas exploration in the resource-rich waters failed to progress, with the issue of profit-sharing remaining a major sticking point for both sides.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Marcos next week, with tensions over Taiwan expected to be on the agenda, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said on Thursday, adding that the Philippines wanted to play a role in peaceful coexistence between the United States and China.
Under Marcos, the Philippines and US draw closer with eye on Taiwan
The Philippines and China have long had competing sovereignty claims as Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, which overlaps with the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines scored a victory against China in a 2016 arbitration which declared Beijing’s claim over nearly the entire South China Sea illegal, which Marcos said he would uphold while Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling.
The Philippines has also long accused Chinese vessels of harassing and disrupting fishing activities in the disputed waters.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Vietnam fisherman recounts attacks by China coast guard in South China Sea
- Fortified South China Sea artificial islands project Beijing’s military reach and power, say observers
- Japanese foreign minister set to visit China after Xi Jinping and Fumio Kishida vow to work to develop relationship
- South China Sea code of conduct harder to negotiate in more ‘complicated’ situation, think tank says
- G20: Xi Jinping’s meetings with Australia’s Albanese, South Korea’s Yoon show US allies’ hope to reboot ‘complex’ ties
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2022.
