Duterte's visit has ushered in a new era

During his four-day state visit to China last week, and his first to a country outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte proved to be more than a man of his words.

His acerbic remarks on the Manila-Washington alliance apart, Duterte made genuine efforts during his visit to China to put Beijing-Manila ties back on track after his predecessor Benigno Aquino III soured the relationship between China and the Philippines by blatantly siding with the United States to initiate arbitral proceedings against Beijing over their maritime dispute in the South China Sea.

Interactions between Chinese and Philippine leaderships, for starters, are likely to resume after Duterte's visit to China, when he and his host President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of many a cooperation deal. Duterte's visit should help the two sides restore the damaged mutual trust and revitalize their cooperation in infrastructure building, and combating drug trafficking and terrorism.