China envoy: We don’t want to fight, use forceMANILA, Philippines — China is not picking a fight and does not want to use force in resolving its maritime dispute with the Philippines, according to Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan. If we want to fight, we would have done that earlier,” Jing said during a visit to The STAR yesterday. Jing said Manila can pursue an “independent, balanced” approach to foreign relations, being friendly with both China and the US. “We want to achieve something, declare that’s our diplomatic achievement, and we want to finish,” he pointed out. Theresa Lazaro earlier said ASEAN would try to finish by this year the negotiations for a long-sought code of conduct in the South China Sea between the region and China.

Source: Philippine Star February 04, 2026 16:39 UTC