By Genalyn D. Kabiling
President Duterte is expected to hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to enhance bilateral relations on the sidelines of a regional summit in Hainan, China next week.
Bilateral cooperation on fighting terrorism and illegal drugs will be part of the agenda of the meeting between the two leaders, according to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Manuel Antonio Teehankee.
Duterte is scheduled to travel to Hainan to attend the Boao Forum for Asia, regarded as China’s equivalent to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, on April 10, then proceed to Hong Kong on April 11 for a working visit. This will be his third visit to China since he assumed office in 2016.
“On April 10, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ways to further enhance the bilateral relationship between the Philippines and China,” Teehankee said.
“The two leaders will also discuss ways to collaborate on jointly addressing pressing issues as well as common threats such as violent extremism and terrorism and cross-border traffic of illegal narcotics,” he added.
The dispute in the South China Sea as well as the proposed joint exploration might also be raised during Duterte’s meeting with Xi next week.
“I don’t have the details of the bilateral meeting. But we can expect that pursuant to the follow-up from the March meeting that any joint exploration will be based on prudent principles that will be beneficial to the Philippines and China and to the Asia Pacific region in general,” Teehankee said.
