Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday he wanted friendly relations with China and confirmed he was open to direct talks over a territorial row that has badly damaged bilateral ties.
Duterte also announced that China's ambassador to Manila would be among the first three foreign envoys he planned to meet on Monday, after winning the May 9 presidential election in a landslide.
"Well ties have never been cold. But I would rather be friendly with everybody," Duterte told reporters in the southern city of Davao when asked whether he wanted closer ties with China than seen under current President Benigno Aquino.
Relations between China and the Philippines worsened sharply throughout Aquino's six-year term over conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea, one of the world's most strategically important waterways.
China claims nearly all of the sea, even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations.
To enforce its claims, China has in recent years built contested reefs into artificial islands, some topped with military-capable airstrips.
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