Philippines, China Commit to Working on Resolving Differences

China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang is welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo ahead of their meeting at the Diamond Hotel in Metro Manila on April 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Gerard Carreon)
China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang is welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo ahead of their meeting at the Diamond Hotel in Metro Manila on April 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Gerard Carreon)
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Philippines, China Commit to Working on Resolving Differences

China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang is welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo ahead of their meeting at the Diamond Hotel in Metro Manila on April 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Gerard Carreon)
China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang is welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo ahead of their meeting at the Diamond Hotel in Metro Manila on April 22, 2023. (Photo: AFP/Gerard Carreon)

The Philippines and China pledged on Saturday to work together to resolve their maritime differences in the South China Sea, where the two have competing claims, and to deepen bilateral ties.

Talks between the countries' foreign ministers mark the latest in a series of high-level meetings of the Philippines with leaders of the United States and China as the two superpowers battle for strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific, Reuters reported.

Manila's relations with Beijing are more than just their differences over the South China Sea, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said as he began talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Manila.

"These differences should not prevent us from seeking ways of managing them effectively, especially with respect to enjoyment of rights of Filipinos, especially fishermen," Manalo said, adding that their livelihoods are undermined by incidents and actions in the waterway.

Since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June, the Philippines has filed dozens of diplomatic protests at the presence of Chinese fishing vessels and what it calls China's "aggressive actions" in the strategic waterway.

The two neighbors need to work together to continue a tradition of friendship, deepen cooperation and properly resolve differences, Qin said in his opening remarks.

Working together would help promote peace and stability of the region and the world, Qin said.

His visit comes just weeks after the Philippines announced the location of four additional US military bases, two of which are facing north towards Taiwan.

Qin is to meet Marcos later on Saturday, ahead of the president's meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington in May.

More than 17,000 Philippine and US soldiers are conducting their largest ever joint military drills in the Southeast Asian country, drawing criticism from Beijing, Manila's rival in the South China Sea.

A landmark ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 invalidated China's claims of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, which sees the passage of about $3 trillion worth of ship-borne goods annually and is believed to be rich in minerals and oil-and-gas deposits.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines have competing claims in portions of the waterway.



One Dead, 31 Wounded in Russian Strike on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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One Dead, 31 Wounded in Russian Strike on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia unleashed a drone and missile strike on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing one, wounding 31 others and leaving tens of thousands without power or heat, officials said on Thursday.
The attack destroyed an energy facility and cut power to more than 20,000 residents and heat to some 17,000, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov, Reuters said.
He said Russian forces struck the city with drones first, then with ballistic missiles during an air-raid alert lasting more than six hours.
Among the wounded was a two-month-old infant as well as rescuers who had responded to the first wave of the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on social media.
Early on Thursday, police and rescue workers combed through the rubble of a decimated apartment building and helped evacuate elderly residents. One building was destroyed and another 30 were damaged, Fedorov said.
A resident who was searching the gutted remains of his apartment described the attack.
"I flew off the couch to get dressed, and, running to the cabinet, I was covered in debris, after which I climbed out and heard my wife screaming," Serhiy, 35, said.
Zaporizhzhia, a strategic industrial city near front-line fighting, has come under frequent attack by Russian forces.
Kyiv's air force said Russia had fired four ballistic missiles at the city, part of a mass overnight attack on Ukraine that also included 92 drones.
Air defenses shot down 57 and another 27 were "locationaly lost", it added.
Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front line of its three-year-old invasion, targeting the country's weakened energy grid in particular.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Moscow's forces had attacked Ukraine's energy system 1,200 times since 2022.
New US President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the conflict and Russian President Vladimir Putin is concerned about its impact on Russia's economy but Ukraine says Moscow's insistence on retaining conquered territory is a non-starter.