Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano of the Philippines, Wednesday (Photo: CGTN)

"China imported 1 million tons of tropical fruit from the Philippines and the number of Chinese tourists to the Philippines reached 1 million in 2017," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said when meeting with visiting Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday.

"From 2016 to 2018, the high-level exchanges between the two countries is increasingly close, and both sides have signed 40 cooperation documents," he added.

Wang also said the South China Sea will be turned into a source of friendship and cooperation.

“We will enhance maritime dialogue and pursue equal footed and friendly consultation, in a prudent and steady way in order to advance cooperation on offshore oil and gas exploration,” Wang said.

Cayetano said the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on his recent election.

"Philippines attaches great importance to bilateral relations of the two sides, and support the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative," he stressed. 

Cayetano said Duterte would visit China next month to attend an economic forum in the southern island province of Hainan and meet Xi there.