PH President Marcos Jr. sets to have a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping to ease tensions in the West Philippine Sea

In a video message, Marcos Jr. expressed the intention to seek President Xi's perspective on measures to lower the temperature in the region and avoid further escalation of the situation.

"We will put all of these together so that we’ll be able to strategize for the near future on what the Philippines’ role will be or what is the proper Philippines’ role in the West Philippine Sea.”

The meeting with Xi follows a prior conversation between Marcos Jr. and US Vice President Kamala Harris before the APEC conference, where they delved into the Philippine assessment of the West Philippine Sea situation.

“We just generally chatted about --- she was very interested to know what our assessment was on the situation in the West Philippines Sea, and I just went through the narrative of what was --- what had happened in the past few months,” he said.

Marcos Jr. shared insights on recent developments and explored potential ways forward to maintain peace in the region. Emphasizing the collective mission of the Philippines, including the Philippine Coast Guard, military, and fishermen, he underscored the fundamental goal of preserving peace.

Concurrently, Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged with top US executives, including Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, ahead of a dinner event during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

During his meeting with Musk, Xi expressed support for Tesla's development in China. This high-security gathering allowed corporate leaders to directly hear from China's leader amid challenges such as China's economic slowdown, US efforts to "de-risk" certain supply chains away from China, and uncertainties arising from China's expanding security regulations.