Amid Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and its incursions into the West Philippine Sea, diplomats from the Philippines and China are scheduled to meet in Manila this week to discuss concerns related to the contested waters.
Dialogues between the two sides will become possible as the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is hosting the 23rd Philippines-China Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC) on March 23 and the 7th Bilateral Consultations Mechanism (BCM) on the South China Sea on March 24.
The last FMC was held in 2019 while the last BCM happened in 2021.
According to the DFA, the discussions will cover an array of issues, including economic, people-to-people, maritime, security, and regional matters.
The FMC will focus on a more general approach as it "reviews the overall relations and all aspects" of Philippine-China cooperation.
Meanwhile, the BCM will allow both parties, especially the Philippines that has legal sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, to cover "maritime issues of concern to either side, including developments in the West Philippine Sea, and areas of possible maritime cooperation and confidence-building."
Following President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s state visit to China, where he discussed with President Xi Jinping his concerns on the South China Sea, the DFA said the upcoming meetings will actually be part of the trip's outcome.
Aside from that, FMC and BCM "will highlight the goodwill between the Philippines and China to dialogue and move forward on practical measures."
"As reflected in the joint statement of the state visit, the two leaders concurred that confidence-building measures such as the FMC and BCM would contribute to improving mutual trust and confidence," DFA said.
"They also affirmed the importance of both mechanisms as venues for the Philippines and China to foster cooperation and greater understanding as well as ease tensions," it added.