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I’ve written many times about China’s behavior in the South China Sea. Recently China has claimed that it had a «gentlemen’s agreement» with former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The hitch here is that this alleged agreement was never written down and there’s no clear proof it existed at all.
In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese Embassy acknowledged that the deal was made during the Duterte administration. Referring to the pact as a «gentlemen’s agreement,» the embassy said it was «no secret» and was aimed at «managing the situation on the ground, maintaining peace and preventing conflicts.»
The embassy added that «relevant departments and agencies of our two sides had worked under its guidance, effectively maintaining peace and stability» at the shoal from June 2022, the start of the Marcos administration, through early February 2023.
China claimed that it has repeatedly briefed the current administration on the agreement. It asserted that the two sides agreed early this year on a new way to manage the resupplying of a Philippine warship grounded at Second Thomas Shoal, but afterwards, that arrangement was «unilaterally abandoned by the Philippine side for no good reason.
