On  October 20, 2016, Premier Li Keqiang met at the Great Hall of the People with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who was on a state visit to China.

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte are set to meet during the Chinese Premier’s five-day official visit to the Philippines for the ASEAN and East Asia Leaders’ Summit on November 12-16.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a recent press conference that Li will also meet other Filipino leaders and will witness the signing of documents in many relevant fields of cooperation.

“We believe that Premier Li Keqiang's visit is of great significance to cementing China-Philippines good-neighborly friendship and promoting the steady development of China-Philippines relations,” Hua said.

Hua said political mutual trust between China and the Philippines has deepened since the improvement of the two countries’ bilateral ties last year.

“China and the Philippines are traditional friendly neighbors. The bilateral cooperation has been in full swing, the maritime dialogue and cooperation have been resumed and the China-Philippines relations have been moving forward for the better,” she said.

Both Li and Duterte had their first “handshake meeting” in September last year on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit held in Vientiane, Laos.

In October last year, the two leaders met again when Duterte visited Beijing at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Li, the first Chinese premier to visit the Philippines since 2007, will attend the 20th China-ASEAN (10+1) Leaders' Meeting, the 20th ASEAN-China, Japan and ROK (10+3) Leaders' Meeting, and the 12th East Asia Summit, according to the MFA.

Hua said the presence of Li in the series of Leaders’ Meetings in Manila would have a great role in building a higher level of China-ASEAN relations.

“We expect that this year's series of Leaders' Meetings on East Asia Cooperation will focus on development and cooperation, further promote the pragmatic cooperation in such areas as economic growth, social and people-to-people exchanges and non-traditional security and send out the positive signal that the East Asian countries jointly pursue development and address challenges,” she said.

She added that China has this year carried out some important initiatives covering such areas as connectivity, food security, poverty alleviation, tourism and combating corruption “which have won positive responses from all relevant parties”.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN and the 20th anniversary of the launch of the cooperation between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea.

“Next year, we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Both the China-ASEAN relations and the East Asia cooperation are at an important stage of building on the past achievements and ushering in the new future,” Hua said.

As rotating chair of ASEAN this year, the Philippines pursues a people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN; peace and stability in the region; maritime security and cooperation; inclusive innovation and growth; ASEAN resiliency; and ASEAN as a model of regionalism and a global player.

ASEAN has 10 member countries – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.