Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed hope that China and the Philippines can work hard to push their relations “back onto a healthy development track” after ties soured due to the ongoing territorial disputes over the resource-rich West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). The Chinese leader stressed this in a message to incoming President Rodrigo Duterte sent through the Chinese Foreign Ministry late Monday afternoon in which he extended his felicitations to the newly elected Philippine leader. President Xi Jinping, President Rodrigo Duterte Xi said the leaders of China and the Philippines share the responsibility of maintaining and deepening their good neighborly and friendly relations as well as the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. He further stressed that China and the Philippines enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges and deep traditional friendship between the two peoples. “A friendly, stable, and sound China-Philippines relationship is in the fundamental interests [...]
