China calls on the Philippines to jointly work on defusing South China Sea tensions

SHANGHAI – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the Philippines to work with China to seek an effective way to

defuse tensions in the South China Sea,

the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The comments come amid rising tensions between the two countries over the location of a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost in the South China Sea.

The comments were made by Mr Wang during a visit to Singapore and Malaysia, which took place on Thursday and Friday, said Xinhua.

Mr Wang said China has repeatedly expressed its willingness to resolve differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogue, hoping that Manila would abide by a consensus reached in the past, Xinhua reported.

The Philippines

intentionally grounded the World War II era warship Sierra Madre

in 1999 as part of its sovereignty claim to the Second Thomas Shoal, which lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and rotates a handful of troops through the ship.

The Philippines won an international arbitration award in 2016 against China’s claim over almost all of the South China Sea, after a tribunal ruled that Beijing’s sweeping claim had no legal basis, including over the Second Thomas Shoal.

China, which

does not recognise the ruling,

has built militarised, man-made islands in the South China Sea, and its claim of historic sovereignty overlaps with the EEZs of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. REUTERS