TERRITORIAL disputes over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) were discussed during the 18th Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC) between Manila and Beijing, a senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

The statement came as Malacañang expressed hope that the visit of Chinese officials for the talks will help improve ties with Beijing.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Erlinda Basilio, who led the Philippine panel in talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying and her delegation, admitted that the West Philippine Sea issue was discussed during the meeting.

In a statement, Fu said that the “the two sides . . . had candid and in-depth discussions on the issues existing in their relations and agreed to . . . properly address differences so as to avoid negative impact.”

The Foreign Affairs department said that the two sides “affirmed the commitment of their respective governments to promote the comprehensive development of bilateral relations” during the consultative meeting that lasted from 9 a.m. to about lunchtime.

Other topics covered during the FMC were “trade, tourism, science and technology, judicial and law enforcement, culture, people-to-people exchanges and other issues of mutual concern,” it added.

“We discussed some pointers. And we agreed to continue the dialogue, areas of cooperation and foreign exchanges,” Basilio said. She added that the meeting produced “positive” results.

The talks also reviewed the status of bilateral relations in general, and in particular, the implementation in the past 10 months of projects identified by the 17th FMC, which was held in Beijing in January.

It also explored mechanisms that will help realize the agreements reached between President Benigno Aquino 3rd and Chinese President Hu Jintao during the former’s state visit to the Chinese capital last year. The deals’ targets include reaching $60 billion in bilateral trade and two million two-way tourism arrivals by 2016.

After meeting with Basilio, Fu paid a courtesy call on President Aquino in Malacañang. She also paid a call on Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario before the talks.

President Aquino told Fu that “the Philippines has been fostering a conducive atmosphere so that both sides can come to a mutually beneficial solution to issues of mutual concern,” according to another statement.

For his part, del Rosario “expressed confidence that the Philippine and Chinese delegations to the FMC will forge a common path toward normalizing and moving forward the bilateral relations and implement the consensus reached between President Aquino and President Hu last year.”

Move forward
Meanwhile, Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte expressed hope that Fu’s visit and the FMC would help move Philippine-Chinese relations forward.

“Hopefully, it will contribute to us moving forward. [First, the FMC was] an opportunity to be able to speak about the many facets of our relationship and hopefully it will serve to move us forward,” Valte said.

She also said that there are so many issues to address besides those regarding the territorial disputes over the West Philippine Sea.

“You have to understand again that we have a multi-faceted relationship with China. We have a trade relationship . . . So marami pong posibleng mapag-usapan dahil malawak na po naman ‘yung ating relasyon doon sa ating kalapit na bansa,” Valte added.

With reports from Catherine S. Valente and AFP