On April 22, 2023 local time, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Manila.
Marcos Jr. asked Qin Gang to convey his greetings to President Xi Jinping and noted that 48 years ago, his father, the late President of the Philippines Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, and the elder generation of Chinese leaders made the right decision to establish diplomatic relations between the Philippines and China, leaving a valuable legacy. Over the years, the two countries have maintained close exchanges and achieved fruitful results in cooperation. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and the Philippines will continue to strictly abide by the one-China policy as it has always done. The Philippines will stick to strategic independence rather than picking sides, and is ready to deepen friendship, expand cooperation, and strengthen communication with China, and properly handle maritime issues to prevent them from disturbing the overall bilateral relations, and safeguard regional peace and prosperity.
Qin Gang conveyed the greetings from President Xi Jinping to President Marcos Jr., noting that the course of development of China-Philippines relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties has proved that mutual respect, friendly interactions, honoring of commitments, and mutually beneficial cooperation serve the fundamental interests of both sides, and that both experience and lessons should be learned. Qin stressed that in the face of the new situation and challenges, the two sides need to keep bilateral relations to the right direction, enhance communication and mutual trust, and overcome difficulties and interference, so as to create favorable conditions for advancing cooperation and ensure that bilateral relations will continue to move forward along the right track of sound and stable development.
Qin Gang pointed out that during President Marcos Jr.'s visit to China earlier this year, the two sides issued a joint statement affirming that the two countries should be good neighbors, good relatives and good partners. He expressed the hope that the Philippines will work with China to turn this vision into reality. Qin Gang also expressed the hope that the Philippine side will follow the trend of history, properly handle Taiwan-related and maritime issues in line with the overall interests of regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of the people of the two countries, earnestly respond to China's legitimate concerns, respect China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and translate into actions its commitment to upholding strategic independence rather than picking sides. China proposed that the liaison mechanism on maritime issues be further improved to properly manage the situation.
On the same day, Qin Gang also paid a courtesy call on Philippine Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio and former President Rodrigo Duterte respectively, and held talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Luis Enrique Manalo.
