SUMMARY
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asserted that his administration has not turned down any suggestion raised by China in managing the escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“We have not rejected any proposal that China made to us, but the premise is something we question,” he said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, March 12, during his working visit to Berlin.
The response came on the heels of a Chinese diplomat’s allegation that the Philippine government was ignoring Beijing’s proposals to “normalize” the situation in the South China Sea.
The Chinese official – speaking anonymously to news outlet Manila Times – claimed that Beijing sent 11 concept papers to the Philippines, but these were supposedly “me…