China and the Philippines issued a joint statement to build the first ＂foreign Ministry level＂ communication channel in the South China Sea, and also mentioned joint development.

At the beginning of the new year, Philippine President Marcos paid a three-day state visit to China.After the meeting between the leaders of China and the Philippines, a joint statement was issued.. According to the report from Observer Network, there are 28 joint statements. Apart from the Philippine side’s thanks and wishes, many of them mentioned the "South China Sea issue", but both sides also made it clear that "the South China Sea issue is not the whole of China-Philippines relations".And for the first time, the communication channel of "foreign Ministry level" was established, and joint development was also mentioned.. In addition, in the joint statement of the two countries, Marcos also solemnly promised that he would carry on the legacy of his late father and continue to enhance the relations between China and the Philippines.

Speaking of this, we have to mention history again. Because on June 9, 1975, when China and the Philippines formally established diplomatic relations, it was Marcos’ father ferdinand marcos who was in power in the Philippines, and the choice of establishing diplomatic relations with China also confirmed the original vision of the old Marcos.

As another president of Marcos family, during Marcos’ visit to China, Philippine leaders cordially recalled that 48 years ago, your father and the older generation of Philippine leaders had an insight into the current situation and followed the general trend, and jointly made a historic decision to establish diplomatic relations between China and the China. "This friendship is precious."

In this regard, Marcos was deeply touched. He responded, as you recalled, bilateral relations are very important to both our countries. The foundation of bilateral relations laid by my late father in those years has now become my responsibility and my pleasure. I hope that China and the Philippines will get closer and the relations between the two countries will be more stable.

It is noteworthy that one year before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines, Marcos, who was only a teenager at that time, accompanied his mother, then the first lady of the Philippines, imelda, to visit China, and also met the great leader of China, President Mao Zedong. It can be said that the Marcos family or Marcos himself really has deep roots with China.

When it comes to China-Philippines relations, there is one issue that cannot be ignored, and that is South China Sea affairs. It was observed that in this joint statement, five articles directly or indirectly mentioned "maritime cooperation".

Regarding the South China Sea, the two sides agreed to establish a direct communication channel at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent misunderstandings in the handling of South China Sea affairs. Objectively speaking, such high-level communication can, on the one hand, prevent external forces such as the United States from deliberately creating disputes on the South China Sea issue and "smashing nails" for Sino-Philippine relations; On the other hand, it is equivalent to establishing a monitoring system for the Philippine military to "cooperate with the United States to act in the South China Sea" and create a "discordant voice" for Sino-Philippine relations. If such a situation occurs again in the future, the two sides can conduct high-level communication at the first time to effectively eliminate misunderstandings.

What is more noteworthy is that the two sides also agreed to "restart the consultation mechanism for the joint development of offshore oil and gas" as soon as possible on the basis of the existing cooperation results for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples.

This is also very much hoped by the Philippine side. Before Marcos visited China, the Philippine media specifically mentioned that it is necessary to try to reach a consensus with China on the issue of "joint development of oil and gas in the South China Sea", because such cooperation is more favorable and expected for the Philippines and will certainly further promote the economic development of the Philippines. This is also what Marcos "thinks".

In the Sino-Philippine joint statement, the two sides also agreed to deepen the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. In fact, the cooperation between China and the Philippines in the field of infrastructure has been fully rolled out as early as the reign of former Philippine President Duterte.

At present, China and the Philippines have cooperated in nearly 40 national-level large-scale infrastructure projects, including power plants, hydropower stations, railways, highways, bridges, Internet infrastructure, new energy, ore processing, etc., which can be said to involve almost all fields, which fully shows the level of mutual trust between the two sides.

After Marcos’ visit to China and face-to-face communication with China, China-Philippines cooperation at all levels will not only be upgraded in an all-round way, but also an effective mechanism for solving problems such as "South China Sea Affairs", which will definitely play a far-reaching role in further enhancing the level of cooperation between the two countries and preventing interference from external forces.