Philippines and China bet on hotlines to avoid South China Sea clashes Talks focus on opening three lines of communications between the nations
MANILA -- The Philippines and China are working on an agreement to allow direct lines of communication between their leaders, foreign ministries and coast guards as tensions rise in the South China Sea, according to a document seen by Nikkei Asia.
Representatives of the countries met on July 2 to find ways to manage maritime tensions.
The document details an arrangement that would provide "several channels for communication" on maritime issues between Manila and Beijing. Once a memorandum of understanding is concluded, these lines of communications would connect representatives of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the countries' foreign ministries and the nations' coast guards.
"The DFA is in discussions with the Chinese side on the guidelines that will govern the implementation of this Arrangement," the document says, referring to the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs.
The document appears to be intended to update officials in Manila on what the two sides have agreed to so far.
In recent months, China has jacked up maritime tensions by disrupting rotational resupply missions to Philippine outposts in the West Philippine Sea, a term Manila uses for waters it deems to be within its exclusive economic zone.
On June 17, Chinese Coast Guard personnel boarded a Philippine inflatable boatbrandishing knives, machetes and other weapons. In the encounter, a Philippine Navy serviceman lost his thumb.
While the communications agreement signifies attempts by both sides to de-escalate these altercations, experts dismiss the idea, saying Beijing has proved unresponsive through similar arrangements. After he visited China last year on his first official trip outside Southeast Asia, Marcos brought home a promise of a hotline between maritime officers of the two countries. Since then, however, there has been no significant progress on the matter.
Chester Cabalza, founder of International Development and Security Cooperation, a think tank in Manila, described these developments as "interesting."
"Both aggressive parties are breaking their silence to mend their differences," he said. "However, Manila should learn from China's reluctance to fulfill the guidelines in the arrangement of improving China-Philippines maritime communication mechanisms."
China's Coast Guard in recent months has deliberately collided with Filipino craft and shot at them with high-powered water cannons. Observers say Beijing is using these aggressive tactics to assert its claims over the South China Sea, including waters within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
The dispute has gone to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which in 2016 ruled in favor of the Philippines' South China Sea claims. Manila has since used the ruling to assert its sovereignty over waters China continues to contest.
Philippine-China ties have seesawed in recent years. When Rodrigo Duterte was elected president in 2016, he favored a policy of crouching in China's shadow, even to the point of discarding the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling. That changed when Marcos came to power and moved Manila's loyalties closer to the U.S., a treaty ally.