China, Philippines to hold South China Sea meeting on Thursday

China and the Philippines will hold the third meeting of the China-Philippines Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced on Tuesday.

Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou and his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, will each head their delegations to the meeting, which will be held in China, Lu said, adding that representatives attending the meeting include those from the two countries' departments of national defense, natural resources and environmental protection and transportation.

Both sides will exchange views over the current situation in the South China Sea and their own concerns, and discuss deepening pragmatic maritime cooperation, including joint oil and gas exploration, Lu said.

The two countries came back to the right track of resolving maritime issues through talks by establishing the bilateral consultation mechanism in early 2017, Lu said, adding that they have been properly handling differences and promoting pragmatic maritime cooperation through the mechanism.