Can China and Philippines replace ‘disputes with cooperation’ after years of tension?

South China Morning Post · Feb 25, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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China and the Philippines may soon start joint coastguard patrols in the South China Sea after years of tensions over the disputed waters, according to a Philippine senator.Erwin Tulfo, chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, met Chinese ambassador Jing Quan on Monday, and said afterwards that the two countries’ coastguards were expected to sign a memorandum of agreement by the end of March.He added that rather than “having disputes there … there will be cooperation”, such as joint patrols, search and rescue operations or environmental clean-ups. “That was what Ambassador Jing mentioned,” he said.The confidence-building initiative comes ahead of the next round talks between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to agree on a code of conduct for the South China Sea by the end of the year, although analysts are sceptical whether any deal will stick given the failure of previous efforts.They said that the specific operational terms for joint patrols could determine whether they proved to be temporary or permanent.