President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said a "paradigm shift" was necessary in the country's approach to the South China Sea issue as diplomatic attempts with Beijing were going "in a poor direction."

In his recent interview with the Japanese media in Tokyo, Marcos said China was already rejecting conventional diplomatic attempts to solve both Beijing 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.

As it seemed that the existing attempts are making very little headway, Marcos said that it is about time for the Philippine government to make a new strategy for dealing with China.

"We have to come up with a new concept, a new principle, a new idea so that we move, as I say, we move the needle the other way. It's going up, let's move the needle back so that paradigm shift is something that we have to formulate," Marcos added.

Marcos reported that the Philippines had taken three legal actions: calling out the China Coast Guard (CCG) 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.

He lamented, meanwhile, the apparent failure of the Philippines' present attempts to resolve the WPS problems.

According to him, if the Philippines handles China in the same manner as it is handling the current circumstances in the disputed waters, the situation in the WPS will not get better.

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

However, Marcos acknowledged that he does not want any more mishaps because errors often lead to violent conflicts.

"We do not want to go 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 went on to say that his administration will keep in communication with its allies to develop a shared position outlining each party's duties with regard to the West Philippines Sea.

The Philippines refers the West Philippines Sea as the portion of the South China Sea that is located within its exclusive economic zone.

As tensions over claims in the area increase, Manila and Beijing exchanged accusations last week following a collision of their vessels close to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

The foreign ministry of China stated that although the Philippines was "entirely responsible" for the recent incidents, maritime issues do not tell the "whole story" of the relationship between the two countries.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China is prepared to appropriately handle disagreements through communication and consultation.

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 rejects the finding of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, saying that Beijing claims lacked legal validity.