Manila's prudence to uphold autonomy welcome

That the Philippines invited State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang to visit Manila from Friday to Sunday, at the height of the largest Philippines-United States joint military drill from April 11-28, and before Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's scheduled visit to Washington starts on May 1 shows the prudence with which it is trying to handle relations with Beijing and Washington.

Manila has enough reasons to do so in a bid to avoid being dragged deep into the rising tensions between the US and China.

The readiness of Beijing to accept that invitation and Qin's busy schedule during his first visit to the Philippines since taking office demonstrate Beijing's sincerity in promoting friendly relations and its willingness to engage in communication to help Manila handle the situation carefully.