The two-day meeting in Manila on establishing a Joint Coast Guard Committee (JCGC) came just days after new images showed China had apparently installed defensive weapons on artificial islands in the hotly contested South China Sea. In a joint statement, the coast guards said possible areas for cooperation included fighting drug trafficking and other maritime crimes, environmental protection and search and rescue. “This is a milestone because it opened the communication lines between the two agencies involved in the (South China Sea),” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Armand Balilo told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

PH, China coast guards meet. (2016, December 17). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A2.