Wang Yi: Philippines should immediately stop maritime provocations

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday urged the Philippines to immediately stop provocative actions on maritime issues and make concrete efforts to stabilize bilateral relations.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during his meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro in Manila.

Wang expressed China's strong protest over the Philippine personnel's violent collision with Chinese law enforcement vessels at Ren'ai Jiao and elaborated on China's solemn position on the incident.

Wang said that in recent years, China-Philippines relations have continued to face difficulties and challenges, which is clearly not in the interests of either side and has also harmed the Philippines' own development.

Facing a world full of changes and uncertainties, the two countries should work together to safeguard the hard-won peace and development in the region, he said. However, the Philippines' actions have gone against the trend among regional countries and become a source of disruption to regional peace and stability, Wang pointed out.

Facts have proven that allowing external forces to meddle in regional affairs and deliberately hyping up maritime disputes will only reduce the Philippines to a pawn manipulated by others, Wang said.

He noted that whenever China and the Philippines are about to engage in dialogue, some forces in the Philippines, particularly within the military and police sectors, deliberately create incidents and undermine the progress of talks.

China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroad, and the Philippines needs to make the right and rational choice on where to go next, Wang stated.

Wang stressed that the key to developing China-Philippines relations is to follow the right direction. "China has never constituted a security threat to the Philippines and has never invaded or colonized the country in history."

He said disputes between China and the Philippines over territory and maritime delimitation are objective facts. China has always been committed to managing differences and stabilizing the situation through bilateral dialogue and consultation, Wang added.

However, the Philippines has deviated from the channel of bilateral negotiations and, encouraged by external forces, set up a temporary so-called arbitral tribunal and fabricated an illegal and invalid so-called award, he noted. China did not accept or participate in it from the very beginning and will never recognize it, Wang said.

He called on the Philippines to immediately stop provocative actions on maritime issues, abide by the commitments it has made to China to date and make concrete efforts to stabilize bilateral relations.