MANILA, Philippines—Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan on Tuesday said his meeting with President Ferdinand R.Marcos Jr. was “constructive” in the wake of the latest incident between the Chinese Coast Guard on the Philippine Navy at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
Jing noted that both parties agreed to keep parts of the sudden meeting in Malacañang confidential as it was a “private discussion that few people attended.”
“But I would say this meeting was very constructive. It’s not a kind of diplomatic protest, [or] a demarche… pointing fingers to each other or, an exchange of very strong words against each other–no, I think it (was) an in-depth exchange of views,” Jing told reporters in a hastily called press briefing after being summoned by Marcos in the afternoon.
Jing noted that a “whole range of issues” was discussed involving the Philippines-China bilateral ties, and not just the recent incident.
“I think the President was also thinking [on]… how we can manage difficulties, how to manage solutions, so we compared notes on almost all of the important issues relating to our bilateral relations,” he said.
This, he added, includes explaining the “intention, position and true feelings” of one party to the other.
Jing, meanwhile, confirmed that Beijing summoned his counterpart, Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz, likely to protest the incident.
Despite the latest confrontation in Ayungin, the Chinese envoy said that the ongoing negotiations between the parties over the South China Sea remains on track.
“We hope to finish negotiations by the end of this year. After several rounds of negotiations, the two sides–China and the Philippines–are actually meeting each other halfway,” he said. /gsg
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