Chinese President Xi Jinping said, China wants to deepen relations with the Philippines under incoming president Rodrigo Duterte.
The country is seeking to revive bilateral ties strained by rising tensions over conflicting claims in the South China Sea.
Since the election, Duterte has adopted a more conciliatory tone on the sea dispute than President Aquino, who brought China before an international arbitration tribunal over its claims to 80 percent of one of the world’s most strategic waterways.
Aquino also strengthened the Philippine alliance with the U.S. to try to check China’s expansion in the South China Sea, where it’s built a series of artificial islands, creating a platform to assert its claims.
Philippine authorities have said, Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough shoal have been plying their trade without being harassed by the Chinese Coast Guard for weeks now — in what could be an early sign of thawing tensions. (Eagle News)