The Philippines is trying to gradually establish “stable foundations” for its relations with China before tackling tougher problems such as the long-running South China Sea dispute, according to the country’s ambassador to Beijing.
“We need a new equilibrium in our relations with China. Both sides [have agreed] to take incremental or baby steps towards that,” Jaime FlorCruz told the South China Morning Post.
“That means a relationship that is stable, that is predictable, that is not subject to jerks [and] ups and downs ... We’re trying to manage our differences while at the same time searching for convergence of interests.”
His comments, coming weeks after President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said he was resetting his country’s ties with Beijing, may be another sign of a sharp recalibration of Philippine foreign policy in the face of geopolitical shocks such as the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Tensions between Beijing and Manila have risen under Marcos, with repeated clashes around disputed islets in the South China Sea.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all the islands and features in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters.
Its claims overlap with those of several neighbouring countries, including Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam, but the Philippines has been the most vocal rival claimant.
Yet signs of a thaw have emerged in recent months, including a meeting between senior diplomats last month, which was the first of its kind for three years.
Marcos told Bloomberg last month that a reset in relations with China was “happening now” and “there’s going to be a very, very serious restructuring”.
China is already the Philippines’ largest trading partner, and FlorCruz said Manila was pushing for more trade and investment, as well as boosting tourism and other people-to-people exchanges, as part of the reset in relations.
“We are back to the basic foundational steps ... We hope that by achieving a stable foundation of relations, then we can continue talking over the contentious issues,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that the South China Sea dispute was a particular source of tension and warned that economic cooperation “should not be used as leverage”.
China has shown it is willing to use its economic power against countries that have angered it.
For example, it banned Japanese seafood imports as well as exports of rare earth elements and dual-use items after the country’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing by saying an attack on Taiwan may prompt military intervention.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. Most countries, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognise the island as independent.
“Joint business ventures [and] business agreements can only succeed and can only be sustained not because they serve any political purpose, but because they are mutually beneficial and mutually profitable,” FlorCruz said.
In recent weeks, the US-Israeli war against Iran has emerged as a catalyst for the thaw between Beijing and Manila.
As soaring oil prices pushed the Philippines to declare a national energy emergency, Beijing stepped in with assurances it would help maintain fuel supplies. The two sides also opened talks on energy cooperation in the South China Sea.
FlorCruz said joint oil exploration was a “complex matter” as it involved constitutional and legal matters, but Manila was “open to that possibility” and to “continuing talks with the Chinese side”.
Under the 1987 Philippine constitution, the state must retain full control over natural resources. In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down a joint exploration agreement with China and Vietnam because it violated a constitutional requirement that at least 60 per cent of such ventures must be owned by Philippine nationals and because it lacked constitutional safeguards.
This precedent bars standard joint development models with China in the South China Sea.
FlorCruz, who studied and worked in China for decades before becoming ambassador in 2023, also said Manila was pushing to finalise a long-delayed code of conduct for the South China Sea during its chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year.
Officials from both sides have expressed confidence that the process can be completed by the end of the year but analysts remain sceptical, pointing to unresolved sticking points.
These include questions about whether the document will be legally binding and what its scope will be.
Asked how close the parties were to finalising the document, the ambassador would only say that “many core differences remain but the delegations involved remain open and are increasingly flexible to some constructive proposals”.
He added: “It’s hard to imagine that one side or the other would easily give up on [their core priorities].
“We are working constructively with Asean member states and with China to conclude a substantive and legally binding code of conduct in South China Sea.
“I think ‘legally binding’ may be a very important part of that. I think that all sides are still trying to grapple with those phrases.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
