Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China would step up efforts to build what it calls a “community with a shared future” with neighboring countries, stressing peace, development cooperation, and people-to-people ties as central pillars of Beijing’s regional diplomacy.

Speaking at the Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations on Dec. 30, Wang said relations with neighboring states play a decisive role in advancing China’s long-term diplomatic goals.

“Building a community with a shared future with neighboring countries is a noble goal of China’s diplomacy and a historical process that requires relentless and continuous efforts,” he said, stressing that China’s relations with its neighbors play a “key role” in advancing that vision.

The Chinese official said Beijing would implement guiding principles adopted at the Central Conference on Work Related to Neighboring Countries, anchored on what he described as amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness.

“We will join hands with neighboring countries to build a peaceful home by advocating a sense of common security, managing differences and disputes properly, and keeping conflicts and wars at bay,” Wang said.

“We will join hands with neighboring countries to build a safe and secure home by actively mediating and cooling down hotspot issues to restore stability,” he added, noting that Beijing aims to foster greater strategic trust in the region.

On the economic front, Wang highlighted cooperation under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and pushed for the early implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0, saying deeper development integration would help build a “prosperous home” for the region.

Wang also underscored environmental cooperation, calling for stronger exchanges on ecological conservation and sustainable development, guided by what he described as the principle that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

According to Wang, cultural exchanges and people-to-people connectivity would be expanded to foster what he termed an “amicable home,” aimed at consolidating public support for China’s vision of a shared future with its neighbors.

Meanwhile, civic leader and Palace ally Dr. Jose Antonio Goitia cautioned that China’s environmental framing of regional issues does not alter established legal realities, particularly in areas where Philippine maritime rights are affirmed by international law.

Goitia said recent state-linked narratives portraying China as an environmental steward in disputed waters risk obscuring legal facts rather than clarifying them.

“Conservation cannot erase law, and narratives cannot displace Philippine rights affirmed by history and international ruling,” he said.

He stressed that Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a status upheld by the 2016 arbitral ruling, adding that environmental language does not confer sovereignty nor negate lawful presence.

Goitia said portraying Filipino fishermen as intruders ignores long-standing historical use of the waters and inverts both law and lived reality.

He added that environmental assessments must account for all pressures on marine ecosystems, including sustained patrol activity and imposed restrictions, to be considered credible.

Goitia also rejected claims extending beyond disputed features, calling assertions involving Palawan “baseless” and unsupported by history, treaty, or international law.

He said the Philippines’ response under President Marcos has remained anchored on law, institutional action, and alliance-building rather than rhetoric.

“This is not posturing. It is governance,” Goitia said.

He added that sovereignty is ultimately determined by law and history, not by competing narratives, and said the Philippines would continue to assert its rights with clarity, discipline, and restraint.