China’s Wang Yi warns Philippines that deploying US missiles could trigger ‘arms race’

Top Chinese diplomat shares concerns over Typhon missile system in first known face-to-face meeting with Philippine counterpart since 2022

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) meets Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo in Vientiane, Laos on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:30pm, 27 Jul 2024Updated: 6:04pm, 27 Jul 2024

In a meeting on Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent another warning to his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo not to deploy intermediate-range missiles from the United States, warning that it could trigger a regional “arms race”.

“If the Philippines introduces the US intermediate missile system, it will create regional tension and confrontation, triggering an arms race, which is totally not in line with the interests and aspirations of the Filipino people,” Wang said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Wang and Manalo met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Vientiane, Laos. It was the first publicly acknowledged face-to-face exchange between the two ministers since 2022.

Wang will also meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the summit.

China-Philippines relations are facing “serious difficulties and challenges”, which are “rooted in the fact that the Philippine side has repeatedly violated the consensus of the two sides and its own commitments, [and] continuously pushed the infringement of rights at sea”, Wang added.

“China-Philippines relations in recent years have proved time and again that it is not easy to build good relations, but it is easy to destroy them.”