China and Philippines look to boost communications over South China Sea dispute
- President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said he hoped that the two sides would be able to resolve problems in a ‘mutually beneficial way’
- Marcos, who was speaking after meeting China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, also announced plans to visit the White House within days
Marcos made the comments after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Manila on Saturday.
“As to the conflicts, we agreed to establish more lines of communications so that any event that occurs in the West Philippine Sea [Manila’s preferred term for the disputed waters] that involves China and the Philippines can immediately be resolved.
“So we are currently working on that and are awaiting the Chinese response and we are confident that these issues would be worked out [and] that would be mutually beneficial for both our nations,” Marcos said, according to a statement released by the presidential palace.
Without explicitly naming Taiwan, Marcos added: “Some of the pronouncements that have been made recently by our two countries and many other countries might be misinterpreted.
“So today it was really useful that we were able to speak … so we can talk directly to one another and iron things out.”