China’s top diplomat extends Pres. Xi’s greetings to PBBM
(Eagle News) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a courtesy call on Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on Wednesday, July 6, extending to him the message of congratulations of Chinese president Xi Jinping.
China’s top diplomat wore a barong Tagalog when he visited Malacanang for his courtesy call on President Marcos Jr.
President Marcos said that they discussed several matters including the commitment to maintain “the strong relationship between our peoples in the coming years.”
“I am grateful to Minister Wang Yi for extending the message of congratulations and support from President Xi Jinping,” Marcos Jr., said in his Facebook post.
“We also discussed agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and our commitment to maintaining the strong relationship between our peoples in the coming years,” the President said.
Wang Yi was accompanied by other Chinese officials including Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian during his courtesy call on President Marcos Jr.
On the Philippines side, the Chinese delegation was welcomed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.
-Resolving conflicts, developing bilateral relations-
Before this, President Marcos had announced in a press briefing in Malacanang on Tuesday, July 5, that he would work on developing and strengthening the country’s relations with China, believing that the relations do not just involve matters related to the West Philippine Sea.
“Yes, I will meet with him and the agenda I’m sure will be to strengthen ties between China and the Philippines. And of course to find ways to work to resolve the conflicts that we have,” he said.
“And one of the ways that I have consistently suggested is that we have our relationship not only on one dimension, ‘yun lang West Philippine Sea. Let’s add to that. Let’s have cultural exchanges, educational exchanges, even military if that will be useful,” he said.
Marcos said he believes that the government-to-government relationship “has always been there” as well as the private sector joint ventures between the Philippines and China.
He also mentioned the importance of regional geopolitics, including of the regional groupings such as the ASEAN and APEC “because they have an interest, they are stakeholders in this.”
“So I think we can say that we need for those — for them, for ASEAN, especially to be active for their member countries. It’s essentially always trying to find ways to improve relationships. And we have many proposals to them in the sense that as I said we would like for us to increase the scope. Huwag lang ‘yung West Philippine Sea,” Marcos said.
-China committed to working towards “golden era” of bilateral relations with PHL-
In a separate statement the Chinese embassy in Manila said that the visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to the country, six days after President Marcos Jr assumed office was significant.
It said this indicated “how China attaches importance to our countries’ bilateral relations.”
“During the visit, State Councilor Wang Yi will pay courtesy calls on the new leadership and hold talks with new DFA Secretary Manalo, delving extensively into Philippine-China relations, practical cooperation, and regional and international issues,” it read.
China’s top diplomat, Wang, said that they highly appreciated President Marcos’ commitment to pursue a “friendly policy towards China.
“And we speak highly of these recent statements that have sent out a very positive signal to the outside world,” he said in his earlier meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo.
“We are ready to work towards that same direction with the Philippines and to plan for our cooperation going forward in all areas,” Wang said.
“I’m confident that with the two sides working together, we can surely open a new golden era for the bilateral relationship.”
(Eagle News Service)
