Aquino's China visit to boost bilateral ties

Updated: 2011-08-24 19:45

(Xinhua)

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MANILA - The forthcoming visit by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to China is sure to boost political, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said here Wednesday.

During Aquino's first state visit to China, Chinese top leaders will discuss with him on how to strengthen cooperation in various fields. "This will be a significant visit," he said at a roundtable briefing at the Chinese embassy in Manila on Wednesday, expressing the belief that the visit will be crowned with full success.

According to the ambassador, Aquino will bring with him a 300- strong delegation to China, many of whom are business magnates. He will attend three business forums during the visit, two in Beijing and one in Shanghai, a very rare experience during a single state visit by any other country.

"We hope such business forums will serve as a great platform and opportunity for the business leaders of the two countries to understand each other, and further cooperation and potential in economic ties will to be tapped," he said.

China is ready and willing to add power to the wings of the Philippine economy. This is the perfect time that business leaders meet and see the ways, channels and opportunities for future cooperation, he added.

Culturally, he said, the two sides will sign a number of agreements to promote bilateral cultural and tourist cooperation in the years to come. This is another major topic of Aquino's visit to China.

Referring to the South China Sea issue, Liu said, it is one of the issues to be discussed. But the issue is there for decades, it is not likely to be solved just through one visit.

He expressed the hope that the two sides would proceed in the spirit of trying to prevent the issue from affecting the overall relations between the two countries.

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