The Philippines will nurture its relationship with China more than it did in the past decades, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Saturday night, a few days after flying home from his state visit there.
“We will continue to protect the relationship between the Philippines and China, more than we have done in recent decades,” Marcos said in Filipino on a video posted online.
“For the interest of our country, and the welfare of the people, that’s the foundation of our policy in dealing with all countries, not just China,” he added.
“As the economy of the world and the global economy changes, it will present to us many new opportunities and I believe that if we face those challenges together, and if we take advantage of the opportunities together, it would certainly be of mutual benefit to our two countries,” he said.
During his state visit to China, the two countries signed 14 agreements in the fields of tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, information and communications technology, trade, and maritime cooperation.
Marcos noted that these agreements were first discussed during his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Thailand in November 2022.
“During this state visit, we continued the discussions we began,” the President said.
He said many of their meetings went overtime because he did not want to waste the opportunity to discuss all matters of concern while he was in China.
He said Xi agreed that they complete their discussions so that their respective ministers and officials would know what to do based on their agreements.
Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz said the 14 agreements signed by the President during his state visit would bring tangible projects and benefits to the country.
“How can we ensure that these pledges will materialize? It is not easy because we need to make a follow through and that’s important. The pledges, first of all, came from the higher-ups, so it’s not only the
Chinese companies that signed them. This time I can assume that the pledges and memorandums of understanding are sanctioned by higher officials,” FlorCruz said in a new forum over the weekend.
FlorCruz said the bilateral deals were aligned with the goals and needs of the government.
