The reported withdrawal of around 100 Chinese vessels from Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, if true, would show that diplomacy had helped ease a territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila, the Defense department said on Sunday.

Special envoy to China Ramon Tulfo, in his column in The Manila Times on Thursday, claimed that vessels owned by the People’s Liberation Army had left Pag-asa as “an initial gesture on the part of China to win the trust and confidence of the Philippine government.”

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