First Lady, China envoy meet amid West Philippine Sea tensions

December 22, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — China’s new envoy met with First Lady Liza Marcos, days after President Marcos emphasized the importance of boosting ties between Manila and Beijing.

The First Lady hosted a luncheon for Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan, Chinese embassy diplomats and leaders of the Filipino-Chinese community at the Laperal Mansion on Dec. 17.

Photos of the event were posted on the Facebook accounts of the First Lady and the Chinese embassy in Manila.

In a separate post, the Chinese embassy said Quan was honored to attend the luncheon and thanked Marcos for her hospitality.

The posts did not provide specifics about the topics discussed during the event.

The luncheon took place nearly a week after Quan presented his credentials to President Marcos at Malacañang and officially started his diplomatic tenure in the Philippines.

As he received the Chinese ambassador’s letter of credence on Dec. 11, Marcos expressed optimism that there would be many opportunities to make the relationship between the Philippines and China stronger and deeper.

The two countries are embroiled in a long-standing maritime dispute over the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea that is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf.

“I look forward to working with you in managing the differences and intensifying the cooperation between our two countries. Our differences should be the exception in our ties rather than the norm,” the President told the envoy.

The luncheon was also held as fresh tensions gripped the West Philippine Sea over the Chinese coast guard’s actions against Filipino fishermen in Escoda Shoal. Known internationally as Sabina Shoal, the coral reef formation is located 75 nautical miles from the Philippine baselines and is within the Philippines’ EEZ.

The Department of National Defense has denounced the Chinese ships’ actions, describing them as “dangerous” and “inhumane.”

China claims practically the entire South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the strategic sea lane. Its wide-reaching claim was voided by an international arbitral court in 2016, but the Chinese government refused to recognize the ruling.

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