Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Philippine President Aquino, who is visiting China, in Beijing on Wednesday (August 31) and attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between the two sides.
According to the BBC, Aquino stated during a speech at the China-Philippines Economic and Trade Forum that China is a major economic power, and he invites Chinese entrepreneurs to seize the current opportunity to invest in the Philippines.
Aquino is leading a large delegation of 300 business leaders on this visit to China, and it is believed that the two sides will reach an agreement on a five-year plan during the visit to increase bilateral trade to $60 billion.
China is the Philippines' third-largest trading partner, following the United States and Japan, and the primary topic of Aquino's visit to China is to promote economic and trade relations between the two countries.
Commentators have pointed out that Aquino's visit to China seems to deliberately downplay the territorial disputes between the two countries, intending to discuss trade rather than controversies. A month ago, he emphasized defending Philippine territory by force, but now he uses the metaphor of "a couple married for 50 years" to describe China-Philippines relations.
