DAVAO CITY (April 25) — President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night to attend the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation from April 25 to 27.
Duterte arrived at the Beijing International Airport at 7:40 n the evening.
This is Duterte’s fourth trip to China since he assumed the presidency in 2016.
Duterte’s visit is upon the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Philippine delegation was received by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua and Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana.
Duterte visits China in the wake of the country’s diplomatic protests against China for their continued activity in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
The protest stemmed form the presence of Chinese vessels which frequents the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island since January this year.
Sta. Romana, however, expressed hope that Duterte’s visit would eventually allow the Philippines and China to resolve the issue “through diplomatic negotiations.”
“Although it was a very contentious issue, there were differences of views, we have different positions on the Chinese. Both sides agreed to resolve this issue through diplomatic negotiations,” Sta. Romana said.”The basic approach is, to discuss the disputes but to manage it so that they will not become — they will not turn into a crisis and also to manage it so that they will not be an obstacle to the development of areas of cooperation,” he added. with PNA report
