President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said a "paradigm shift" is necessary in the country's approach to the South China Sea issue as diplomatic efforts with Beijing are going nowhere.

In his recent interview with the Japanese media in Tokyo, Marcos said China was already rejecting conventional diplomatic attempts to solve both Beijing's and Manila's issues in the West Philippine Sea.

"To this point, we have resorted to the traditional methods of diplomacy, but we have been doing this for many years now, with very little progress," Marcos said.

"It's time that the countries that feel that they have an involvement in this situation, we have to come up with a paradigm shift," Marcos added.

Marcos said it is time for the Philippine government to make a new strategy for dealing with China.

'We do not want to go to the point where there are incidents that might cause an actual violent conflict.'

He explained that the Philippines had taken three legal actions: Calling out the China Coast Guard in a "demarche to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials," filing a diplomatic protest with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and summoning Huang Xilian, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines.

Meanwhile, he lamented the apparent failure of the Philippine attempts to resolve the WPS problems.

To defuse the tension in the WPS, Marcos said the Philippines might be forced to have discussions with "the rest of the world" and its partners in the Indo-Pacific area.

However, Marcos acknowledged that he wants to avoid more mishaps because errors often lead to violent conflicts.

"We do not want to go to the point where there are incidents that might cause an actual violent conflict. Maybe from a mistake or a misunderstanding, and these things happen all the time," Marcos said.

He said his administration will keep communicating with allies to develop a shared position outlining each party's duties about the West Philippines Sea.

China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines laid claims to parts of the South China Sea, which serves as a route for trillions of dollars in yearly shipborne trade.

However, China rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration finding in 2016 that Beijing's claims lacked legal validity.