China said it ready to continue negotiations on joint oil and gas projects in the South China Sea with the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr after President Rodrigo Duterte's outgoing government said it ended the talks.

In a press conference in Beijing on June 24, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin cited a memorandum of understanding which the two governments signed on November 2018 to embark on negotiations "and made important progress within this framework."

Marcos has not said whether he would continue the negotiations.

China "will strive to take early substantive steps so as to deliver tangible benefits to both countries and peoples," Wang said.

"Joint offshore oil and gas development is the right way for China and the Philippines to manage maritime differences and achieve win-win results without prejudicing either side’s maritime positions and claims," he added.

Outgoing Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr said during the founding anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, Duterte ordered the termination of the Philippines' joint oil exploration discussions with China.

“The President has spoken. I carried out his instructions to the letter. Oil and gas discussions are terminated completely. Nothing is pending. Everything is over,” Locsin said.

Locsin did not say when Duterte made the decision. DMS