Photo from the Department of Foreign AffairsCEBU CITY - Senior diplomats from the Philippines and China on Thursday held bilateral talks on the disputed South China Sea, where hostilities and tensions between the two countries have alarmingly escalated in recent years. A 2002 agreement between ASEAN and China calls on all claimants to exercise restraint and stop new occupation of territories in the South China Sea. The Philippines last week said it is alarmed over heated exchanges between Filipino officials and Chinese diplomats in Manila over their long-standing territorial rifts in the South China Sea. At the Cebu meeting, the DFA said Philippine and Chinese officials "underscored the importance of sustained diplomatic dialogue and continued cooperation across all sectors." China insists ownership of almost 90 percent of the South China Sea, including areas that overlap with the Philippines’ and other Asian nations’ territorial waters.