China’s foreign minister warns PH over US missile deployment
BEIJING—China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned the Philippines over the US intermediate-range missile deployment, saying such a move could fuel regional tensions and spark an arms race.
The United States deployed its Typhon missile system to the Philippines as part of joint military drills earlier this year. It was not fired during the exercises, a Philippine military official later said, without giving details on how long it would stay in the country.
Manila ‘violated consensus’
China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroads and dialogue and consultation are the right way, Wang told Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo on Friday during a meeting in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where top diplomats of world powers have gathered ahead of two summits.
Wang said relations between the two countries are facing challenges because the Philippines has “repeatedly violated the consensus of both sides and its own commitments,” according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
“If the Philippines introduces the US intermediate-range missile system, it will create tension and confrontation in the region and trigger an arms race, which is completely not in line with the interests and wishes of the Filipino people,” Wang said.
The Philippines’ military and its foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on Wang’s remarks.
Cited by Blinken
China and the Philippines are locked in a confrontation in the South China Sea and their encounters have grown more tense as Beijing presses its claims to disputed shoals in waters within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is attending the Laos meeting, on Saturday urged Southeast Asian countries to help address challenges, including Beijing’s “escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea.
Though Blinken singled out China over its actions against the Philippines, a US defense ally, in the South China Sea, he lauded both countries for their diplomacy hours after Manila completed a resupply mission to troops in an area also claimed by Beijing—the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.
The troop presence at the shoal has for years angered China, which has repeatedly tried to block Manila’s missions to supply food, water and other necessities to the troops on a navy ship grounded there, causing regional concern about an escalation.
“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas Shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached between the Philippines and China,” Blinken told counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward.”
Temporary arrangement
Blinken will hold talks with Wang after Saturday’s security-focused Asean Regional Forum in Laos, which will be attended by top diplomats of major powers, including Russia, Australia, Japan, the European Union, Britain and others.
Wang said China has recently reached a temporary arrangement with the Philippines on the transportation and replenishment of humanitarian supplies to Ayungin, which the Chinese call Ren’ai Jiao, in order to maintain the stability of the maritime situation at the shoal.
Philippine vessels on Saturday successfully completed their latest mission to the shoal unimpeded, its foreign ministry said in a statement.
