Wang Yi Holds Talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin

On April 2, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin in Nanping City, Fujian Province.

Wang Yi said that under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Rodrigo Duterte, China-Philippines relations have sustained healthy and stable development in recent years, which led to deepened political mutual trust, notably expanded cooperation and great benefits to the people of the two countries. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the two sides helped each other to overcome the adversity together, further elevating the friendship between the two peoples. China appreciates the important role played by the Philippines in promoting China-ASEAN relations as ASEAN-China country coordinator, and is willing to work with the Philippines to move forward along the course charted by the two heads of state, and further deepen anti-pandemic and development cooperation, so as to promote faster and better development of China-Philippines relations.

Wang Yi said that China is willing to continue to promote vaccine cooperation with the Philippines and discuss the reciprocal arrangement of mutual recognition of health codes, and hopes the Philippine side will support the implementation of the "Spring Sprout" program in the country. The two sides should solidly advance the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, endeavor to complete key projects on schedule, and bring out economic and social benefits of these projects at an early date. China is willing to work with the Philippines to further enhance the level of trade liberalization and facilitation, explore cooperation in emerging areas such as cross-border e-commerce, and create new highlights of bilateral cooperation.

Wang Yi said that China is ready to take the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations as an opportunity to take stock of useful experience in the past 30 years, and make plans for the development of bilateral relations in the next 30 years, in order to lift China-ASEAN relations to new heights. China is willing to work with ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, to promote the early implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, to accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, to refrain from flexing muscles on disputed matters and take care of each other, so as to maintain stability in the South China Sea and the momentum of growth in bilateral relations.

Locsin said that the Philippines and China enjoy all-round and strong friendly cooperation. The unbreakable friendship between the two countries should become the stabilizing factor of the world's geopolitical changes. The Philippine side is committed to promoting further development of bilateral relations with China, and is grateful for China's strong support to the Philippines in fighting the pandemic, particularly the aid and provision of vaccines. China's provision of vaccines is not to carry out "vaccine diplomacy", but to demonstrate its responsibility. Without China's support, it will be difficult for the region and the world to recover from the pandemic. The Philippine side supports taking the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations as an opportunity to lift bilateral relations, and welcomes China's proposal of holding a special ASEAN-China foreign ministers' meeting. The Philippines hopes to accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. The Philippines and ASEAN countries attach importance to and will attentively study the Global Initiative on Data Security proposed by China. The Philippine side congratulates China on being elected as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council from 2021 to 2023, and looks forward to strengthening coordination and cooperation with China within the framework of the Human Rights Council.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on international and regional issues of common concern, and agreed to enhance communication and coordination to jointly create and embrace a more united Asia with greater development in the future.