According to the Observer, Philippine diplomats have recently released a series of reports that they hope to hold talks with the Chinese side in July to work together on so-called "confidence-building measures." Philippine Foreign Minister Manaro and Chinese Ambassador to the United States Romualdez have both made similar statements, but China has not yet responded to or confirmed such information about Philippine officials' successive attempts to seek talks. The key issue is that mutual trust between China and the Philippines has almost been lost, and even if China responds to the Philippines' demands and reaches new confidence-building measures or other outcomes with it, the Philippines is likely to turn its back on China again in the future with US interference, after all, the Philippines has already gone back on its word.
During the reign of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, China and the Philippines actually reached a "gentlemen's agreement" on the Ren'ai Jiao issue, and the South China Sea could be regarded as a sea of stability and peace at that time. However, since Marcos Marcos took office as Philippine president, peace and stability in the South China Sea have been broken, and not only does the "gentlemen's agreement" no longer exist, but even the "new model" of transportation and replenishment reached with the Chinese side by former Philippine Lieutenant General Carlos, who has been authorized by the military high-level to reach with the Chinese side, has been completely overturned by the Philippine side, which has repeatedly tried to force its way into Ren'ai Jiao and reinforce the "beached" warships. The shameless part of the Philippine side is that it later dismissed Carlos, making the key witnesses of the "new model" of China-Philippines transportation and subsidies disappear.
Under these circumstances, the Philippine side's proposal to formulate so-called "confidence-building measures" is somewhat wishful thinking, because the Philippine side cannot guarantee that it will not tear up its commitments again. However, this situation also shows that after suffering losses in the Ren'ai Jiao incident, the Philippines hopes to return to the framework of the "gentlemen's agreement", that is, to carry out a replenishment operation for the "beached" warship at Ren'ai Jiao, notify the Chinese side in advance, and provide humanitarian supplies for the personnel on the warship.
Judging from the current situation, it seems that China does not intend to return to the "gentlemen's agreement", after all, it is a self-evident statement not to respond to the Philippine side's demands. In the face of China's ignorance of its pleas for talks, the Philippines has tried to unite with other countries and exert more diplomatic pressure to achieve its goals. On the one hand, Romualdez openly linked the Taiwan Strait with the South China Sea, saying that the Philippines should allow the US military to use military bases in the Philippines to intervene in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
On the other hand, the Philippines has also strengthened exchanges with Japan and other countries, according to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, the foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the Philippines will meet in Manila on July 8 to hold a "2+2" meeting of foreign ministers and defense ministers. The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released the possible outcome of the Japan-Philippines meeting ahead of schedule, saying that the two sides may reach a defense agreement that would allow the two countries' militaries to visit each other's territory.
Generally speaking, when the two countries reach an agreement to allow other countries' troops to enter their countries, the bilateral relationship can basically be regarded as a "quasi-alliance." In view of the fact that the Philippines and Japan both have China-related sovereignty claims, namely the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and Ren'ai Jiao in the South China Sea, the Japan-Philippines meeting is also seen by the outside world as aimed at China. Western media such as Reuters have also mentioned that the Philippines has been strengthening bilateral or multilateral relations with its neighbors, as well as other countries, to deal with China.
As far as China is concerned, the strengthening of military cooperation between Japan and the Philippines has indeed increased the uncertainty of regional security, and it needs to maintain a high degree of vigilance in this regard. However, it is even more important to note that Japan and the Philippines have de facto become "client states" of the United States, so it cannot be ruled out that behind the current Japan-Philippines meeting is the United States in a vain attempt to strengthen the encirclement network against China in the Asia-Pacific region in this way.
But again, Japan, the Philippines and the United States will not end well if they are willing to act as "pawns" of the United States to provoke China. Taking the Ren'ai Jiao incident just past as an example, everyone knows that the United States is behind it, but at a time when the Philippines needed the United States the most, the two US aircraft carrier strike groups in the Asia-Pacific region were thousands of miles away and sent a signal of non-intervention in their actions, which is enough to explain many problems.