The Philippine Foreign Ministry called the telephone talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo on Wednesday "frank and candid", saying that both sides have "a clearer understanding of our respective positions on a number of issues". But Beijing has enough reasons to hold a wait-and-see attitude on how Manila's "clearer understanding" affects the situation.

By urging Manila to "act with caution", Wang has made it crystal clear that China is determined to defend its rights and respond resolutely if the Ferdinand Marcos government of the Philippines continues to collude with the United States to stir up trouble in the South China Sea.

Those calling Wang's remarks a "warning" to Mania are hyping them up to substantiate the Marcos government's portrayal of China as a bully.

In the latest sign of his loyalty to the role assigned to him by Washington, Marcos has recently called for "a paradigm shift" in resolving the maritime disputes with China. This is aimed at forming a de facto anti-China clique with the Philippines acting as the US' right-hand man.

The misjudgment of the situation has exposed the Marcos government's lack of understanding of the nature of the bilateral maritime disputes as well as the basic norms and international laws based on which they should be resolved. Rather than being a means to break the impasse, the Philippine leader's proposal directly reflects the intention of Washington.

As Wang noted, the crux of the worsening relations between the Philippines and China right now is that the Philippine side has changed its policy stance, downgrading itself from a regional player with strategic autonomy to a proxy of the US. By doing Washington's bidding, Manila has not only reneged on the promises it has made to Beijing, but is also constantly stirring up trouble at the cost of regional stability.

As such, it is ridiculous some Philippine politicians attribute the surging domestic opposition against the Marcos government's South China Sea policy to Beijing's "manipulation". As more and more Philippine people have seen through their government being fooled by Washington, the question is whether the Marcos government can come to its senses before it is too late.

On Wednesday the two foreign ministers agreed that a meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea should be held as soon as possible and favorable conditions created for it to produce meaningful outcomes. The top priority, as Wang said, is to properly handle and control the current maritime situation.  

But with the Philippine military chief and Japan's top general holding talks on "pressing regional security issues" on Thursday, during which they stressed the importance of alliance-building to counter aggression in the South China Sea, Manila needs to give serious consideration to the wisdom of its current course of trying to appease China while trying to form a gang to help it carry out its hooligan act.