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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
March 25, 2026 | 12:11pm
This handout photograph released by Philippine's Office of the Press Secretary and taken on January 4, 2023, shows Philippine's President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (2L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping (2R) during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of People in Beijing.
Philippines's Office of the Press Secretary / AFP
MANILA, Philippines — With the Middle East crisis sending the Philippines into a state of national energy emergency, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. conceded that it may be time to reset the Philippines’ relationship with China.
With the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran driving oil prices up across the globe, China—one of the world’s largest oil importers—continues to receive Iranian crude. Iran has also continued to send oil to China despite the war.
Moreover, Beijing has also been shifting towards renewable energy in recent years.
In an exclusive interview on Bloomberg shortly before declaring a state of emergency over energy, Marcos said that a reset on the Philippines’ relation to China is “certainly going to happen.”
“It's happening now. There's going to be a very, very serious restructuring,” Marcos said.
Marcos expressed his agreement with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who has stated that international relations and legal frameworks need to be redrawn.
Asked if it was possible to partner with China to develop gas resources in disputed areas in the South China Sea, Marcos said that it was not off the table.
The president said that the Philippines has always tried to differentiate the territorial rows from the trade agreements with China.
“That's something that we've been talking about for a great deal. But the territorial disputes will get in the way of that. Maybe this will be—provides impetus for both sides to come to an agreement,” Marcos said.
Marcos has upheld the country’s victory over China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration when it came to the West Philippine Sea, however, some critics have noted that there has been a softening in his stance when it came to the territorial row.
However, tensions in the Middle East have sent gas prices in the Philippines soaring, putting Manila at risk of rapid inflation and a laggard economy.
While the Philippines and the US have historically been allies, Manila has not expressed any backing for the war on Iran, but neither has it condemned Washington specifically.
“Our foreign policy is very, very simple. It's peace and the national interest. That's it. And war is never in the national interest as far as the Philippines is concerned. And so we just are hoping that this ends soon and that whatever recalibration will be done as quickly as possible so we can get back to work,” Marcos said.
