MANILA: China and the Philippines will negotiate a military protocol to avoid maritime “miscalculations,” Manila’s defense minister said on Wednesday, following a brief standoff near a Philippine-occupied island in a disputed part of the South China Sea.
Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippines tried to put up makeshift structures on a sand bar about 4 km (2.5 miles) off Thitu island in the Spratly archipelago in August, but China objected and sent ships to the area.
President Rodrigo Duterte sought to defuse tensions by ordering troops to pull out. Construction was stopped.
“We intend to sit down with China to draft and agree on a protocol to resolve immediately any incident,” he said, adding he hoped talks could start this year.
“We hope to avoid any miscalculations in the disputed areas so we need the protocol to act on any problems because we cannot wait for higher authorities to decide.
“Anything can happen anytime, so we want commanders on the ground to decide to prevent violence.”
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a strategic waterway where about $3 trillion worth of sea-borne goods pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have competing claims.
China-Philippines relations have often been frosty over maritime disputes, but ties have warmed under Duterte, who prefers to not provoke Beijing and wants to tap it for loans and investment.
Lorenzana said marines were sent to a sand bar to build shelter structures made of light materials for Filipino families and fishermen. There were also Chinese fishermen on the sand bar, about 500 square meters large, he said.
“China complained because the Philippines was occupying new features, which it said was a violation of a bilateral agreement,” Lorenzana added.
“We pulled out and no structures were built there but both sides agreed there would be no new occupation.”
The Philippines has pressed ahead with $25 million of upgrades to Thitu island. A small community of Filipinos has lived there since the 1970s, ostensibly to prop up the country’s claim, although conditions are basic compared to those enjoyed by Vietnamese and Chinese on other islands in the Spratly chain.
The Philippines has defended the upgrades, saying other countries have long been doing the same. China has rapidly built small cities on nearby artificial islands and installed missile systems, radars and aircraft hangars on three of them.
China’s Xinhua news agency said coast guard officials of both countries had met on Tuesday to discuss exchanging visits, building trust and cooperating to prevent cross-border crimes.
China, Philippines to draft protocol to avoid maritime ‘miscalculations’
China, Philippines to draft protocol to avoid maritime ‘miscalculations’
Record low homicide rates in London as mayor defends policies
LONDON: The number of homicides in London last year were the lowest since 2014, UK police data revealed Monday, at a time when mayor Sadiq Khan faces mounting criticism over criminality in the British capital.
There were 97 homicides in 2025, the lowest total since 2014, and London’s homicide rate per capita was the lowest since records began in 1997, according to the new figures.
“Many people have been trying to talk London down, but the evidence tells a very different story,” Khan said in a statement.
“It’s clear that our sustained focus on being both tough on crime and tough on the complex causes of crime is working,” he added.
Khan has faced fierce criticism from Conservative and far-right politicians in the UK, as well as international figures like X owner Elon Musk, who claim that criminality in London has increased.
Some of his critics pin the accusations on the mayor’s pro-immigration stance.
The Labour party politician, who became London’s first Muslim mayor in 2016 and regularly uses his platform to celebrate the capital’s diversity, has also faced rising Islamophobic attacks on social media.
“The statistics speak for themselves, London is a safe place to live, work and visit. Thanks to the work of our dedicated officers, violent crime has reduced, and homicides are at their lowest levels since 2014,” the Met police said in a press release.
Violent incidents resulting in injuries were down by a fifth since 2014, while National Health Service data showed that the number of people hospitalized after being stabbed in London fell by nearly 30 percent in the last five years.
The police also pointed out that London’s homicide rate per capita was the lowest on record despite a growing population, and claimed it was lower than other major cities like New York, Paris, Los Angeles and Berlin.
However, the latest release did not include data on other types of crime including thefts and sexual offenses.
Anti-immigration Reform UK last week said fighting crime in London would be a priority for the party going into key local elections in May and mayoral elections in 2028.
Its mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham last week said London “is no longer safe,” particularly for women.
Phone thefts also continue to plague the British capital, with the Met recording 117,211 stolen phones in 2024, up 25 percent from 91,481 in 2019.
