KUALA LUMPUR: The Philippines is open to any additional agreements with Beijing that can help maintain peace in the South China Sea, its top diplomat said, amid unabated confrontations between them over disputed features.
The South China Sea, a conduit for about $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, remains a source of tension between China and US ally the Philippines, with ties at their worst in years amid frequent standoffs that have sparked regional concerns they could spiral into conflict.
The Philippines is vexed by the constant presence of China’s coast guard in its exclusive economic zone, where both countries claim sovereignty over disputed features, including uninhabited sandbars, an atoll rich in fish stocks and a reef where Manila has troops stationed on a grounded navy ship.
“I’m not saying they (arrangements) will necessarily take place, but anything within the scope of diplomatic means or peaceful means or cooperation is certainly within our template,” Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo told journalists on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
