For the first time, the Philippines and China have made use of the newly-established communication mechanism to tackle the recent beaming of military-grade laser light by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) to a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel in Ayungin Shoal.
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza revealed that China has called the Philippines on Feb. 14 to talk about the "urgent" issue.
"Nung Feb. 14, tumawag na po ang China, ginamit po 'yan (On Feb. 14, China called using it)," Daza confirmed in a television interview on Friday, Feb. 17.
The ambassador shared that both countries narrated their respective positions on the incident, which, according to the PCG, has caused temporary blindness to the vessel's crew.
"Tumawag po sila, ginamit ho yung direct mechanism at ang nangyari po, as expected, ni-narrate nila yung position nila. Sa atin naman, ni-narrate din po natin na anong nangyari at (They called using the direct mechanism and as expected, they narrated their position. We, on the other hand, also narrated what happened and) how we considered the incident as aggressive, and also as threatening. So we hope that this does not actually continue," Daza said.
The communication mechanism was an outcome of the meeting of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Chinese President Xi Jinping in January in China.
Both leaders agreed to establish a direct line from their respective Foreign Affairs department intended to be used for urgent maritime issues and concerns.
According to Daza, it is also a part of the Philippine-China memorandum of understanding on strengthening cooperation in 2017.
During the call, China also expressed its intention to engage with the Philippines regarding the latest Ayungin Shoal incident, to which the latter agreed on.
"We are open to engagement in different levels at (and) different forums. And that applies to all po. We want to be friends but this should actually be based, and should not, in any way, sacrifice the national interest of the country," Daza said.
"Pero kapag po ang teritoryo n'yo, yung vessels n'yo, at saka yung crew na (But if your territory, your vessels, and crew) are placed in danger, for example, our fisherfolk cannot actually fish in the waters, e iba naman pong usapan 'yan. Kaya nga po ngayon, nagsasabi kami (that's a different story. That is why we are saying), we welcome different forms of engagement, in addition to what is already existing," she added.
While the direct line between the two countries is already in use, Daza emphasized that actions must still be taken over the calls and diplomatic protests lodged by the country against China.
"Pero sana po may (But I hope there will be) concrete action that will be taken on the different calls and protests that have actually been sent already from the country to China," Daza said.
In 2022, the country has sent 195 diplomatic protests against China and has already issued nine this year.
Under the current administration, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has already filed 76 diplomatic protests against China.