Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo described the current state of Philippine-China relations as “a bit choppy,” but ruled out the possibility that they could get any worse. He said the Philippines had always sought to manage the West Philippine Sea dispute diplomatically but that China was “not helping us to do so.” “I would say they’re a bit choppy; there are many issues which have come up recently,” the chief diplomat told reporters in an interview on Wednesday. He called out China’s latest harassment of Filipino fishermen at Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal and the resupply missions to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal as “illegal and inconsistent” with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 arbitral award that invalidated Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea, including parts within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Pazzibugan, D. Z. (2024, May 23). PH-China relations ‘a bit choppy’ now—DFA chief. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A2, A7.