(Reuters) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Beijing on Tuesday (October 18) at the start of a four-day state visit aimed at improving ties between the Asian neighbours.
Duterte was welcomed by Chinese officials after arriving from an earlier state visit to Brunei.
He is expected to meet the Chinese leadership for bilateral talks on trade, security and the economy.
Duterte is travelling with at least 200 business leaders, and Chinese officials have said China’s tropical fruit imports from the Philippines is one area of trade the two sides would look to expand during the visit.
The visit could signal a transformation in a relationship dogged by rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Duterte plans to raise the plight of Filipino fishermen when he meets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Thursday.
China seized Scarborough Shoal – claimed by Beijing as Huangyan island and by Manila as Panatag – in 2012, denying Philippine fishermen access to its rich fishing grounds.
The seizure formed part of a case the Philippines took to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, which in July rejected China’s territorial claims over much of the South China Sea, including its assertion of a 200-mile (320 km) exclusive economic zone around the disputed Spratly islands.
China immediately declared the ruling “null and void” but said it was time to get talks started again between the countries directly involved in the territorial disputes to reach a peaceful resolution.
Beijing is considering making a concession to Duterte, whose rapprochement with China since taking office on June 30 marks an astonishing reversal in recent Philippine foreign policy.