The Philippines said Tuesday it had agreed with China to "de-escalate tensions" over the disputed South China Sea.
"The two sides discussed their positions on Ayungin Shoal, the Philippine name for the Second Thomas Shoal, and reaffirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without compromising their positions," the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after representatives of the two countries met in Manila.
The Philippine military said on Monday that China’s actions last month in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea were the “most aggressive” by Beijing in “recent history,” describing the incident as deliberate.
Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the navy’s spokesman on South China Sea issues, said the Chinese coast guard’s actions were “deliberate, planned and escalatory.”
A Filipino sailor was seriously injured in what the Philippine military called a “deliberate high-speed collision” by the Chinese coast guard on June 17.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said last June after the incident that his country would not surrender to "any foreign power . "
Tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated sharply in recent months over long-running territorial disputes in the South China Sea over a group of islands and coral reefs claimed by several countries in the region.
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