PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is off to China next year for a state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Office of the Press Secretary said Marcos accepted the invitation of his Chinese counterpart for a trip to China on January 3 to 5 or 6, 2023.
"The Chinese government has since confirmed that schedule for the State Visit," it added.
It will be the first time Marcos will meet Xi since assuming the presidency; while it will be his third state visit as the 17th chief executive after Indonesia and Singapore.
At the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits here, he was expecting to meet the Chinese leader to take up the South China Sea issue. But it did not happen as Xi was represented by Premier Li Keqiang.
Next year's visit will also be the first chance for the Philippine government under Marcos' administration to hold bilateral talks with China at the highest level, although Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited the country in July.
China expressed its commitment to work with Marcos government "in all areas of comprehensive, strategic partnership" as it commended the new chief executive’s "friendly policy" towards the Chinese government.
Agriculture, infrastructure, energy and people-to-people exchange were among areas of cooperation particularly cited by the two sides to strengthen cooperation on.
During his state visit, the President might also ask Xi to finalize the crafting of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, where both the Philippines and China have claims over, as he said at the ASEAN Summits that "it shall be an example of how states manage their differences: through reason and through right."