Philippines’ Marcos seeks to forge ‘higher gear’ ties with China on Beijing trip

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his government expects to sign more than 10 agreements with China during his Beijing visit starting Tuesday, as he seeks to “open a new chapter” of strategic cooperation.
The two-day trip is Marcos’ first to China since becoming president last June, and his first bilateral visit to a country outside Southeast Asia.
Speaking to officials and diplomats ahead of his flight, Marcos said the Philippines will seek to broaden cooperation in various fields, including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, as well as trade and investment.
“As I leave for Beijing, I will be opening a new chapter in our comprehensive, strategic cooperation with China,” Marcos said.“I look forward to my meeting with President Xi (Jinping) as we work towards shifting the trajectory of our relations to a higher gear that would hopefully bring numerous prospects and abundant opportunities for peace and development to the peoples of both our countries.”Marcos will also seek to resolve political and security “issues” between the two countries during his trip.
“The issues between our two countries are problems that do not belong between friends such as the Philippines and China,” Marcos said.“We will seek to resolve those issues to the mutual benefit of our two countries.” While he did not specify which matters will be on the table, the Philippine Foreign Affairs Ministry said last week that one of them will be the territorial dispute in the South China Sea. The strategic and resource-rich waterway has been claimed by China almost in its entirety, but other countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, also have overlapping claims.
The Philippines has filed hundreds of diplomatic protests against China’s activity in the maritime region in the past few years, after an international tribunal in The Hague dismissed Beijing’s sweeping claims to the region in 2016. Chinese vessels, however, continue to be spotted in the territory’s Philippine part, the West Philippine Sea, and new military facilities and airstrips.
have also been spotted there.
Marcos’ immediate predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had adopted a Beijing-friendly approach, partly in an attempt to distance the Philippines from the US, its key defense ally and former colonial master.
Marcos said he will continue warm relations ushered in by Duterte but vowed he would not lose an inch of Philippine territory to any foreign power.
Froilan C. Calilung, assistant professor of political science at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, told reporters ahead of the president’s departure that he will try to define his administration’s relations with Beijing. “(The visit) is also very important for us,” he said. “China is a very important player in the geopolitical as well as in the economic dimensions of the world right now.” China accounts for 20 percent of the Philippines’ foreign trade and is a major source of foreign direct investment. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese tourists were the second-largest source of international arrivals for the archipelagic nation.