Duterte expects 'plenty of happiness' for PHL in China trip

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he expected "plenty of happiness for my country" in his visit to China, shortly after arriving in Beijing.

Duterte's plane touched touched down at the airport at 8:07 p.m. straight from his three-day state visit in Brunei.

"This will be a historic visit and a new beginning in China-Philippines relations," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

China's ambassador to Manila, Zhao Jianhua, said last Friday a budding bilateral friendship could boost chances of removing one of their biggest bones of contention in the South China Sea.

Duterte over the weekend said that he may raise a controversial arbitral ruling on the South China Sea with China's leaders and vowed not to surrender any sovereignty or deviate from the July award by the tribunal in the Hague.

But upon arrival in Beijing, the president said it was not on the main agenda of the discussions.

Asked about the South China Sea dispute, he said: "No, that is not one of the topics on the agenda. It might crop up but it is going to be a soft landing for everyone. No impositions."

Duterte, who came from a state visit in Bruneu, is scheduled to meet with the Filipino community in Beijing on Wednesday night.

Duterte is expected to meet top Chinese leaders—President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and National People’s Congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang—on Thursday.

He would then have a keynote speech at the Philippine-China Trade and Investment event.

On Friday, Duterte would meet with executives from the Bank of China before flying back home to Davao City.  —report from Reuters/JST, GMA News