China urges joint Philippine effort to ease South China Sea tensions

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the Philippines to work with China to seek an effective way to defuse tensions in the South China Sea, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Wang's remarks came during a visit to Singapore and Malaysia which took place on Thursday and Friday, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

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

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 Philippines intentionally grounded the World War Two-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.

Manila won an international arbitration award in 2016 against China's claim over almost all of the South China Sea, after a tribunal ruled Beijing's sweeping claim had no legal basis, including at 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.