PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed great concern over the incidents of provocation by Chinese ships in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) despite his ongoing efforts to establish direct communication lines with Beijing.

“It is one of the major issues that we have to face back home,” Marcos said in a chance interview during his meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

Prior to his departure for his working visit in the US, Marcos said the government was still waiting for a response from China to operationalize the proposed communication lines between Manila and Beijing to prevent misunderstandings in the WPS.

This after the near-collision between the Philippine Coast Guard and the Chinese Coast Guard in the Ayungin Shoal last month as well as the 100 alleged Chinese ships which swarm the WPS last week.

Amid such tensions in the WPS, Marcos said the country will continue to maintain its enhanced security cooperation with the US.

“Well, cooperation with the United States certainly is just something that we are building upon that has been going on for many, many, many decades. And we just keep going,” Marcos said.

Harris for her part said the US Coast Guard will continue its cooperation with their Filipino counterparts.

She noted that under the leadership of Marcos, the Philippines-US alliance is now stronger.

“And through your leadership we have been able to continue to do the work that we have that is a priority around our mutual prosperity and security,” Harris said.

The Philippines and the US are currently crafting new bilateral defense guidelines to institutionalize their defense priorities on land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.

Image credits: AP/Andrew Harnik, AP/Patrick Semansky