The German leader visited Manila to meet Gilberto Teodoro and and enhance ties between the two countries.

In a joint statement, the ministers said they “strongly opposed any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims, especially through force or coercion,” alluding to recent incidents in the South China Sea, reported Arab News.

Teodoro said the conflict in South China Sea was influenced by only one factor which is China's illegal and unilateral attempt to appropriate most of South China Sea as their internal waters.

“The Philippines is not provoking China. We do not seek war, yet we are mandated not only by our constitution but as an obligation to our countrymen to protect whatever areas, whether be jurisdiction or rights, that rightfully belong to the exclusive benefit of Filipinos," the Minister was quoted as saying by Arab News.

  This year also commemorates the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Germany.