Philippine, Chinese top diplomats agree to ease South China Sea tensions

Foreign ministers hold 1st meeting in 2 years as Manila conducts resupply mission

20240727 Wang Yi of China and Manalo of the Philippines

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, meets with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo during the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with China at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane on July 26. © AP

RAMON ROYANDOYAN, Nikkei staff writer

July 27, 2024 14:10 JST

VIENTIANE -- Foreign ministers of the Philippines and China met on Friday evening in Vientiane and agreed to cool simmering tensions in the South China Sea in line with their earlier provisional agreement on resupply missions in Manila's outposts in the disputed waterway.

China's Wang Yi and the Philippines' Enrique Manalo talked for an hour, after participating in a dinner organized for top diplomats present in Laos for an annual meeting of top diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partner countries.