MANILA: The Philippines dispatched a new ambassador to China yesterday with a mandate to improve ties amid a festering territorial dispute between the South China Sea neighbors, the foreign department said.

Ambassador Erlinda Basilio left for Beijing to assume her post, which had been vacant since August last year, department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

“Erlinda Basilio’s mandate is to improve Philippine-China relations through projects,” Hernandez said in a statement to the press.

He made no direct reference to the stand-off between Manila and Beijing that began in April 2012 in waters around the Scarborough Shoal, when Chinese ships prevented the Philippine Navy from arresting Chinese fishermen.

Beijing insists the shoal, an outcropping of rocks nearer to the Philippines than the Chinese mainland, is part of Chinese territory.

Hernandez in his statement instead cited commitments forged by Philippine and Chinese leaders in 2011 to boost ties, particularly economic, sports, tourism and “people-to-people relations.”

China claims most of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbors. These areas include major sea lanes and are believed to hold vast mineral and oil resources. The claims are contested by the Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.