New Philippine president will seek to mend ties with China

New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said that mending relations with China will be a top foreign policy priority of his government.

He has said that China will be the first country that he will visit after taking office.

According to a Xinhua news agency report, Duterte's gestures are being viewed as encouraging, given that the previous presidency of Benigno Aquino III had repeatedly antagonised ties with Beijing by stoking tensions over the South China Sea.

According to Xinhua, under the Aquino regime, Manila violated an agreement with Beijing to solve their South China Sea disputes via bilateral negotiations by unilaterally launching a compulsory arbitration case against China, leaving the bilateral relationship in a complicated state.

As of now though, Duterte is keeping his cards close to his chest, as he also does not want to antagonise the United States with regard to the South China Sea issue among others.

In 2015, China was the Philippines' largest source of imports, the country's second-largest trading partner, and third largest export market. Bilateral trade reached $45.65 billion, up 2.7%. Those figures suggest that the incoming Duterte government will seek to keep the door to Beijing open and bring ties back on the track.