Global Courant
MANILA – China’s largest training ship Qi Jiguang arrived at the port of the Philippine capital Manila on Wednesday for the final leg of its “goodwill” tour of Southeast Asia amid the simmering tensions over the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
The pier was in a festive mood as the 163-meter Qi Jiguang docked for its four-day visit to Manila, where the public is allowed on board until departure on Saturday.
Chinese naval officers stood on deck and waved back to the crowd of Chinese nationals and Filipino-Chinese people eagerly awaiting their arrival. They waved their mini Philippine and Chinese flags to the beat of the lion dance drums.
Among those in attendance were Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian and Commodore Carlo Lagasca, commander of the Philippine Navy (PN) coastal force.
A handful of PN officers were also sent to port, standard protocol for welcoming foreign guests. They also carried small flags, but fell silent when China’s giant naval training ship anchored in Philippine waters.
Manila is the final stop on the Qi Jiguang’s 40-day journey, with stops in Vietnam, Thailand and Brunei. Beijing is holding the expedition in an effort to strengthen relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors despite their competing claims to the South China Sea.
The ship’s visit to Manila also comes just a week after coast guards from defense allies the Philippines, the United States and Japan conducted their first joint maritime exercise in the disputed waterway.
The last time Beijing sent its naval vessels to the Philippines for a goodwill visit was in 2019 under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who had turned his back on the US to seek warmer relations with China.
Duterte’s successor and incumbent president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has taken a different foreign policy path, striking a delicate balancing act between maintaining relations with the two rival superpowers.
For 35-year-old business student Yan Lin Song, seeing the Qi Jiguang in Manila indicates better relations between China and the Philippines.
“I think my country is getting stronger now. Even if I am in a foreign country, I can still feel China and feel the friendship of these two countries. I am very grateful and excited,” she said.
