Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 17, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

 
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday met with former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. An expert said the meeting sent "a relatively friendly signal" regarding bilateral ties.

Xi said that while being President of the Philippines, Duterte resolutely made the strategic choice of improving relations with China, with an attitude of being responsible to the people and history. China-Philippines relations were able to return to the right track and prosper, a demonstration of the important contributions Duterte made to friendly exchanges between the two countries.

Noting that China and the Philippines are both developing countries in Asia, Xi said the development of the two countries is rooted in the good-neighborly and friendly peripheral environment and the Asian family of win-win cooperation.

China upholds the policy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and has always been committed to forging friendship and partnership with its neighbors, said Xi.

China always attaches importance to China-Philippines relations and is willing to work with the Philippines to promote the steady and long-term development of their relations, Xi said. He also expressed the hope that Duterte will continue to play an important role in the friendly cooperation between the two countries. 

Thanking China for its valuable support to the Philippines' economic and social development, Duterte said that developing friendly relations between the two countries serves the interests of the two peoples and conforms to the aspiration of the majority of the Philippine people. He promised to continue contributing to promoting bilateral friendship.

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also attended the meeting.

"There are differences between the two countries, although these differences may not be what both China and the Philippines are willing to see, nor are they the mainstream of the bilateral relations," Chen Xiangmiao, director of the world navy research center at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Monday. The bilateral relations between China and the Philippines should still be carried out in dialogue and cooperation, Chen said.

Duterte is not only a former head of state, but also an old friend of the Chinese people. The meeting also reflects the recognition of his role and contribution toward the friendly relation between the two countries and the expectation that he will continue to play an active role, according to Chen.

Global Times