South China Sea: doubts surface over Philippines’ deal with Beijing on shoal missions

Analysts say Beijing seems to be framing the arrangement in a way that suggests the Philippines has conceded to its demands – a characterisation vehemently denied by Philippine officials.

These divergent comments have only heightened the uncertainty surrounding the latest development in the long-standing maritime dispute.

However, the terse three-paragraph statement provided few details, save that the arrangement was reached following discussions between the two on July 2 in Manila during their 9th Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China.

On Monday, China’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying the two sides had “agreed to jointly manage differences in maritime issues”. Beijing asserted that the Philippines was “violating China’s sovereignty” by maintaining the grounded naval ship on the disputed shoal, and said it would be “willing to allow” resupply efforts if Manila provided advance notice and allowed Chinese monitoring and “on-site verification”.

It added that Beijing would “absolutely not accept” and would stop any attempt to build “fixed facilities” on the shoal.

The Chinese statement appeared to confirm the existence of a bilateral arrangement, but analysts say it was crafted in a way that made it seem as if the Philippines had acquiesced to Beijing’s demands.

In response, the Philippine foreign ministry pushed back against China’s characterisation, describing its counterpart’s statement as “inaccurate” – including on the issue of advance notification.

“Nevertheless,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said, “the agreement was done in good faith and the Philippines remains ready to implement it.”

Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano also spoke about the issue on Wednesday, saying that the