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Philippines and China Reach a Deal to Avoid Clashes at Fiercely Disputed South China Sea Shoal

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard ships (L and R) corralling a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine navy to deliver supplies to the Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
(FILES) This file photo taken on August 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard ships (L and R) corralling a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine navy to deliver supplies to the Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
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Philippines and China Reach a Deal to Avoid Clashes at Fiercely Disputed South China Sea Shoal

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard ships (L and R) corralling a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine navy to deliver supplies to the Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
(FILES) This file photo taken on August 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard ships (L and R) corralling a Philippine civilian boat chartered by the Philippine navy to deliver supplies to the Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

Two Philippine officials said Sunday that Manila and Beijing have reached a deal to avoid confrontations at a fiercely disputed shoal in the South China Sea, where recent clashes have sparked fears of larger conflicts that could involve the United States.
The deal was forged after a series of closed-door meetings between Philippine and Chinese diplomats in Manila and exchanges of diplomatic notes that aimed to establish a mutually acceptable arrangement at the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, which China also claims.
The Philippine officials who confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on Sunday spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a public announcement of the pact.
Chinese coast guard and other forces have used powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers to prevent food and other supplies from reaching Filipino navy personnel at Manila’s outpost at the shoal.

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Azerbaijan Proposes Document on Principles of Peace before Full Deal with Armenia

FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a speech at the 10th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a speech at the 10th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo
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Azerbaijan Proposes Document on Principles of Peace before Full Deal with Armenia

FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a speech at the 10th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers a speech at the 10th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo

Azerbaijan is proposing to sign a document with Armenia on the basic principles of a future peace treaty as an interim measure as they wrangle over a broader deal, a senior Azerbaijani official said on Sunday.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly said they want to sign a peace treaty to end the conflict over the former breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, reported Reuters.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Saturday a text of a treaty was 80%-90% ready but repeated it was impossible to sign it before Armenia amended its constitution to remove an indirect reference to Karabakh independence, which Armenia has rejected.
Karabakh's ethnic Armenian inhabitants enjoyed de facto independence from Azerbaijan for more than three decades until September 2023, when a lightning Azerbaijani offensive retook the territory and prompted around 100,000 Armenians to flee.
Both countries have in recent months sought to make progress on the peace treaty, including the demarcation of borders, with Armenia agreeing to hand over to Azerbaijan four contested border villages.
A document on the basic principles could be considered as a temporary measure and form the basis of the bilateral ties and ensure neighborly relations between the two countries, Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to the president, told Reuters.
It can be signed until Azerbaijan holds COP29 climate summit in November, Hajiyev added.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in June that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was close to completion but that his country would not accept its demands that it change its constitution.
After he made those comments, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, the latest in a series of protests denouncing his policies, including the handing back of ruined villages to Azerbaijan, and demanding his resignation.
On July 5, Constitution Day in Armenia, Pashinyan said the country needed a new constitution "which the people will consider to be what they created, what they accepted, what is written in it is their idea of the state they created and the relations between people and citizens in that state".