On July 22, 2026, on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meetings on East Asia cooperation in Manila, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Ma. Theresa Lazaro upon request, elaborating on China’s solemn position to the Philippine side and lodging a strong protest against the reckless act of Philippine personnel ramming a Chinese law-enforcement vessel at Ren’ai Jiao.

Wang Yi said that China-Philippines relations have faced persistent difficulties and challenges over the past few years. This clearly runs counter to the interests of both sides and is even more detrimental to the Philippines’ own development. Faced with a world intertwined with changes and turmoil, we ought to jointly uphold the hard-won momentum of peace and development in the region. Yet the Philippines has acted contrary to other regional countries and become a source of disruption to regional peace and stability. Facts have proven that allowing external forces to meddle and deliberately hyping up maritime differences will only turn the country into a tool to be exploited. Attempts to provoke troubles with the backing of extra-regional countries will ultimately force the Philippines to bear the bitter consequences of its own making. Regrettably, every time China and the Philippines are about to engage in dialogue, certain individuals in the Philippines, especially some forces within the military and police, deliberately stage incidents to undermine the dialogue process. These people harbor ulterior motives. They are not acting for the well-being of the Philippine people, but rather to carry out the will of external forces and pursue their own personal interests. China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroads, and the Philippine side needs to make the right and rational choice about where to go from here.

Wang Yi emphasized that steering China-Philippines relations forward hinges on staying on the right track. China has never been a security threat to the Philippines and has never invaded or colonized the Philippines in history. It is an objective fact that China and the Philippines have disputes over territorial and maritime delimitation. China has consistently committed itself to managing differences and stabilizing the situation through bilateral dialogue and consultation. However, the Philippine side has turned away from bilateral negotiation channels. Encouraged by external forces, it set up an ad hoc “arbitral tribunal”, fabricated and hyped up the so-called “award” which is illegal and null and void. From the very beginning, China has neither accepted nor participated in the arbitration, let alone recognized it. The Philippine side should immediately stop provocative actions on maritime-related issues, abide by all commitments it has made to China to date, and take concrete efforts to stabilize bilateral relations.

Ma. Theresa Lazaro stated that the Philippines and China enjoy a long history of exchanges and are neighbors that cannot move away from each other. The Philippines consistently adheres to the one-China policy and honors the commitments made upon the establishment of diplomatic relations. There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. The Philippines hopes to find proper solutions to maritime-related issues through dialogue and strive for improvement in bilateral relations.