China has once again attributed the escalating discord in the South China Sea to what it perceives as the Philippines’ failure to honor previous agreements as talks of a gentleman’s agreement between formers Philippine presidents and the Chinese premier emerged.
President Bongbong Marcos has bewailed the purported “gentleman’s agreement”.
On Thursday, Aoril 11, the Chinese Embassy in Manila, though refraining from directly addressing President Marcos’ dismissal of the agreement, stressed the role of past understandings in preserving peace and stability in the region.
In a statement it said, “China has been exploring, with previous administrations and the current government of the Philippines, the pragmatic way to effectively manage the sea row. The understandings and agreements reached by the two sides have maintained overall peace and stability in the past years.”
The statement further stated, “And also because the understandings and agreements were no longer adhered to, the situation around Ren’ai Jiao became difficult and incidents happened once and again.”
President Marcos, before his departure for Washington, reiterated his stance emphasizing the absence of official documentation or records substantiating the existence of the supposed gentleman’s agreement. “There is no documentation, there is no record,” he stated unequivocally.
Despite the Philippine government’s decision to rescind previous agreements concerning the West Philippine Sea, China urged Manila to uphold its commitments.
“We urge the Philippines to value and honor their commitments and abide by the consensus, and return as soon as possible to the right track of properly managing the situation through dialogue and consultation,” the embassy said.
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