BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned the Philippines about the deployment of US intermediate-range missiles, saying such a move could fuel regional tensions and trigger an arms race.
The United States deployed its Typhon missile system to the Philippines as part of joint military exercises earlier this year. It was not fired during the exercises, a Philippine military official later said, without giving details on how long it would remain in the country.
China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroads and dialogue and consultation are the right path, Wang told Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo on Friday during a meeting in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where key diplomats from world powers met ahead of two summits. .
Wang said relations between the countries face challenges because the Philippines has “repeatedly violated the consensus of both sides and its own commitments,” according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“If the Philippines introduces the US intermediate-range missile system, it will create tension and confrontation in the region and trigger an arms race, which is not completely in line with the interests and desires of the Filipino people,” Wang said.
The Philippine military and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wang’s remarks.
China and the Philippines are locked in a confrontation in the South China Sea and their encounters have become more tense as Beijing presses its claims over disputed shoals in waters within its exclusive economic zone of Manila.
Wang said China recently reached a temporary agreement with the Philippines on transporting and resupplying humanitarian supplies to Ren’ai Jiao in order to maintain the stability of the maritime situation, referring to the Second Thomas Shoal.
Philippine ships on Saturday successfully completed their latest mission to the shoal without hindrance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao; additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in Manila; editing by Himani Sarkar)
