President Marcos bared that his proposal to establish a direct line of communication between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to materialize amid maritime tensions.

"Not yet, I'm afraid," Marcos said when asked in an interview with ABC if he has a direct personal line to Xi on pressing issues in the West Philippine Sea.

This despite proposing to create a hotline between him and the Chinese leader early last year when he visited Beijing for a state visit.

"In fact in January of last year when I went to Beijing and I visited with President Xi Jinping that is what I proposed--a kind of hotline between us," Marcos said.

"So that if there is a message that needed to be sent from one president to another, we can be assured that that message will reach them," he added.

Marcos, however, noted that the Philippine government has direct contact with the Chinese "at several levels" such as ministerial and sub-ministerial levels.

In the same interview, the President reiterated that it is his sworn duty to protect the country's territory and defend it from foreign threats.

However, Marcos clarified that he does not see this effort as a move to counter military power.

"We don't see it in those terms. We don't see it as countering the military power of any country whatsoever, it's merely the defense of our territory. We have territorial conflicts with other countries, Malaysia, for example, and Vietnam, but we have come to an arrangement with them to resolve any such conflict peacefully," he said.