Chinese foreign minister to visit Philippines next week

MANILA, Philippines - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to arrive in the country on Tuesday for an official visit, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced yesterday.

In a media advisory, the DFA said Wang would participate in a bilateral meeting, a signing ceremony and a news conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano at the Shangri-La Hotel at The Fort in Taguig City. It did not say what is to be signed and other details of the visit.

Wang’s visit to the Philippines comes three weeks after Cayetano flew to Beijing for a four-day official visit to hold talks with him.

Since assuming office last year, President Duterte sought to improve the Philippines’ relations with China.

He has also temporarily set aside the July 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal in The Hague, which favored the Philippines over a maritime dispute with China, opting instead to pursue bilateral talks with Beijing over the territorial dispute.

Beijing has committed $15 billion worth of investment pledges to Manila during Duterte’s state visit in October. The Chinese government also recently donated over half a billion pesos worth of military equipment to the Philippines.