President Marcos Jr. Fly to Beijing Meet Xi Jinping, Discuss the South China Sea?

JAKARTA - President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr. planned to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during a three-day visit to Beijing to discuss several matters regarding relations between the two countries.

Speaking before his flight Tuesday, President Marcos Jr. said he planned to meet President Xi Jinping, that "issues between our two countries are issues that do not belong to two friends like the Philippines and China", Reuters reported on January 3.

This will be the second face-to-face meeting between President Marcos and President Xi following their November meeting in Thailand, taking place as the Philippines has raised concerns over reported Chinese construction activity and the "crowd" of Beijing ships in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Last week, a Philippine Foreign Ministry official said talks with President Xi would cover China's actions in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Friday made no mention of the South China Sea, but said the visit "will focus on exchanging in-depth views on bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern".

It will promote cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and culture to create a "golden era", Wang said.

Analysts expect President Marcos Jr. used the trip to help rebalance his country's foreign policy, which under the previous leader Rodrigo Duterte moved closer to China and away from the United States.

While the Philippines is a defense ally of the United States, under Duterte, it set aside territorial disputes in the South China Sea in exchange for Chinese investment.

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, through which some $3 trillion in ship-borne trade passes annually, with the area a flashpoint for Sino-US tensions over naval operations.

In a speech last May, Marcos vowed he would not lose an inch of Philippine territory to any foreign power, drawing cheers from supporters of the 2016 arbitration award that overturned China's expansive claims in the South China Sea.

Since Marcos Jr. was in office, he has twice met US President Joe Biden abroad. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris also visited the Southeast Asian nation last year, assuring Manila that Washington would defend the Philippines if attacked in the South China Sea.

Marcos is clearly "inching away from the extreme pivot to China", Renato Cruz De Castro, an international relations analyst at De La Salle University in Manila, said.

But while De Castro expects the South China Sea issue to be brought up, he does not expect Beijing to change its position.

"Ultimately, China's goal is to force us to accept a fait accompli, that they will operate within our exclusive economic zone", De Castro said.