China yesterday pledged to donate US$20 million worth of non-combat equipment to the Philippines as Defence Minister Wei Fenghe met his counterpart Delfin Lorenzana as well as President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila. Wei, fresh from a tour of three other Southeast Asian capitals, agreed with Lorenzana on closer cooperation between their militaries and the continuation of dialogue to manage the ongoing South China Sea dispute, statements from both sides said.

Wei’s trip was the highest-profile visit of his four-city tour of Southeast Asia, which Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said was a way for Beijing to convey to the international community that ties with Manila remained warm.