This image provided by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship 5901 in the seas within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. - Philippine Coast Guard via AP
MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippines said it expressed "serious concern” over the presence of Chinese vessels near its shores during talks with China on their South China Sea dispute.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong had "frank and constructive” discussions on the disputed sea and other bilateral issues, Manila’s Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.
The routine talks were held amid renewed tensions in the contested waters. The Philippines early this week said it filed a diplomatic protest over the "illegal” actions by Chinese aircraft and vessels, including a 12,000-ton coast guard ship - known as "The Monster” - that was patrolling near the Philippines’ western shores.
Manila has called on China to withdraw the large vessel, but Beijing said its coast guard’s patrols and law enforcement activities in the relevant waters were in accordance with the law and "beyond reproach.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its own statement on Thursday that it wants to improve ties with Manila through more dialogue, even though it also referred to recent Philippine actions as "provocative.”
Beijing continues to assert its claim to nearly all of the strategically vital and resource-rich South China Sea despite an international tribunal’s ruling in 2016 that rejected those expansive claims.
Their vessels clashed on several occasions last year despite holding talks designed to ease tensions. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., backed by US and Japan, has asserted Manila’s own claims in part by sustaining a military outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal.
During Thursday’s talks in the city of Xiamen, Philippine and Chinese officials agreed to continue efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Second Thomas Shoal and reinvigorate the platform for coast guard cooperation, the Philippines said in its statement. They also identified ocean meteorology as a focus for marine scientific cooperation.
"We firmly believe that despite the unresolved challenges and differences, there is genuine space for diplomatic and pragmatic cooperation in dealing with our issues in the South China Sea,” Lazaro said.
After raising the issue the Philippine Navy said its warships held exercises Friday in the South China Sea as part of its efforts to assert its sovereign rights over waters also claimed by Beijing.
China claims most of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Friday's exercises were held days after the Filipino coast guard expressed alarm over Chinese patrols moving closer to Manila's shores.
