The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines on Thursday urged the Philippine side to value and honor its commitments, abide by the consensus, and return as soon as possible to the right track of properly managing the situation of Ren’ai Jiao through dialogue and consultation.
According to reports, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Wednesday said during an interview that he doesn’t know anything about the “gentleman’s agreement” regarding the Ren’ai Jiao issue between China and the Philippines, adding that he was “horrified” by the idea that the Philippines has compromised through a secret agreement its territory, sovereignty, and sovereign rights.
In response, a spokesperson for the embassy said China always believes that territorial disputes should be settled peacefully through negotiation.
“Before the territorial disputes are settled, differences should be properly managed through dialogue and consultation to maintain peace and stability,” said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson noted China has been exploring, with previous administrations and the current government of the Philippines, the pragmatic way to effectively manage the situation of Ren’ai Jiao without prejudice to either country’s principled position on the dispute.
“Thanks to the understandings and agreements reached by the two sides, the overall peace and stability at Ren’ai Jiao was maintained in the past few years,” the spokesperson said, adding that the situation around Ren’ai Jiao became difficult and incidents happened once and again because understandings and agreements were no longer adhered to.
