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The guided missile destroyer Changchun is one of three Chinese navy ships due to dock in the Philippines on Sunday. Photo: Handout

Chinese navy to make first Philippines port call in seven years

Visit this weekend comes as Manila tries to lower dependence on United States and expand ties with other regional powers

Chinese navy ships will visit the Philippines for the first time since 2010 this weekend as Manila and Beijing try to ease strategic mistrust and move beyond their territorial disputes.

Three vessels – the guided missile destroyer Changchun, the guided missile frigate Jingzhou, and the supply ship Chaohu – will dock at Davao City in Mindanao from Sunday until Tuesday.

They will visit around 20 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania, and be headed by Rear Admiral Shen Hao, deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s East Sea Fleet.

The port stop comes after Russian navy vessels arrived in Manila last week for joint exercises as part of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s attempts to lower Manila’s dependence on its traditional ally the United States and expand ties with other regional powers.

Ties between China and the Philippines have warmed quickly since Duterte promised to put aside their territorial disputes over the South China Sea and pursue stronger business links.

China has showed particular interest in resource-rich Mindanao, including a US$9 billion, 2,000km Mindanao Railway project.

The supply ship Chaohu will make a port call in the Philippines’ Davao City for three days. Photo: Handout

The only ripple was last weekend when Philippine defence chief Delfin Lorenzana went to a disputed South China Sea island, prompting a protest from Beijing.

The Chinese port visit will coincide with Sunday’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila.

As holder of the bloc’s rotating chairmanship, the Philippines was expected to adopt a softer-than-usual line on South China Sea disputes and exclude references to militarisation or island building in the area, Reuters reported, citing a draft of the chairman’s statement.

Duterte said on Thursday it was pointless discussing Beijing’s contentious activities in the disputed waters at the summit.

But on the sidelines of Asean on Friday, Asean Malaysia National Secretariat director general Jojie Samuel said some member countries had pushed for a stronger wording in the joint statement.

The envoy refused to say which countries were pushing the tougher line.

Beijing and Manila have been pushing for bloc members to agree on a framework for a China-Asean code of conduct on the South China Sea.

Samuel said the framework was expected to be finalised before July, and released in August in time for an Asean foreign ministers meeting.

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