PH, China diplomats to meet in Xiamen to tackle disputes

Senior Philippine and Chinese diplomats will resume talks in China's southeastern city of Xiamen on Thursday amid Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed that China is hosting another round of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism, or BCM, when asked by reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of his bilateral meeting in Manila with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.

“There are preparatory meetings now for the BCM tomorrow,” Manalo said, refusing to provide specific details.

“We don’t want to prejudge what the events or outcome will be, but what I can say is that they will, of course, be discussing the situation in the region, in the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea, including the recent developments.”

The Philippines will be represented by Manalo's deputy, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Ma. Theresa Lazaro.

Both sides are likely to tackle the thorny territorial issues related to the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea after a large Chinese Coast Guard vessel, called the monster ship, was spotted in the Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) and sailed close to the northwestern coast of Zambales early this week.

Manila filed a protest, demanding China withdraw its vessel immediately.

“The presence of the monster ship in Filipino waters, 77 nautical miles from our shoreline, is unacceptable,” said Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general at the National Security Council.

“You’re pushing us to the wall,” Malaya said, hinting that China’s actions may lead to another legal case. “All options are on the table because the closer the monster ship is in the Philippine waters, the more it makes tensions high and the more the Philippine government contemplates things it was not contemplating before.”

China, which asserts ownership of most of the resource-rich waters, is averse to legal proceedings in resolving the overlapping disputes, preferring bilateral negotiations with other claimant states.

Two Philippine Coast Guard ships have repeatedly ordered the Chinese vessels to withdraw from the area, which is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines and China alternately host the BCM talks, which started in 2017. The last BCM was held in China in September.

Several confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels since last year resulted in several injuries from the Philippine side, including one Filipino soldier who lost a thumb in a tense June 17, 2024 incident at Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), where several knife- and axe-wielding Chinese coast guard personnel blocked, harassed, and attacked the Filipino navy while bringing food and other supplies for a small Philippine contingent stationed in Ayungin.

China has also been harassing Philippine vessels and fishermen and installed barriers at Bajo de Masinloc, which lies within Manila’s exclusive economic zone under a United Nations maritime convention but is claimed by Beijing as its own.

Manila and Beijing in July last year forged a “provisional arrangement” to deescalate tensions and prevent clashes in the Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal.

Following the arrangement, no confrontation was reported when the Philippines delivered food supplies and other necessities and transported a new batch of navy personnel to Ayungin, where a rusting World War II-era vessel, deliberately grounded by Manila in 1998, serves as a military outpost.

A vital trading and shipping lane, the South China Sea, dotted with rocks, shoals, and reefs where rich oil and mineral deposits were found, is claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.

Parts of the waters that fall within Philippine territory have been renamed by the government as the West Philippine Sea to reinforce the country’s claim.

China’s vast territorial claims in the waters have sparked tensions and violent confrontations with smaller claimants, like the Philippines and Vietnam.

In July 2016, a The Hague-based tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines and declared China's massive and historic claim on the South China Sea illegal and baseless under international law. China refused to recognize the ruling.

Washington has repeatedly declared its “ironclad commitment” to help defend its treaty ally, the Philippines, in case of an armed attack against its forces following repeated and increasingly violent Chinese harassment of Filipino coast guard personnel and troops in the disputed waters. — VBL, GMA Integrated News