| Chinese premier winds up visit to Philippines after regional summit |
MANILA, Philippines, Jan 16 (AP) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Philippine Senate President Manuel Villar on Tuesday as he wound up his two-day state visit to the Philippines, a Chinese Embassy officer said.
Wen also was to have lunch with House Speaker Jose de Venecia before returning to Beijing, said the embassy officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak with the media.
Wen had dinner with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo late Monday after attending a regional summit in central Cebu city. No details of the meeting were immediately provided by the Malacanang Palace.
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the two leaders agreed that their countries "should enlarge friendly exchanges at all levels," strengthen cooperation between their executives, legislature, political parties and the military, and push "strategic cooperation."
The two leaders also sought to deepen defense and security cooperation, strengthen consultations and coordination in fighting terrorism, drugs and transnational crimes, Xinhua said.
Wen and Arroyo also witnessed the signing of about a dozen bilateral trade and economic agreements late Monday, including a US$500 million (€388 million) loan for a Philippines rail project, a US$1.9 million (€1.5 million) technical cooperation agreement and a memorandum to deepen agricultural and fisheries cooperation.
Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said another memorandum allows a Chinese company to invest up to US$3.83 billion (€2.96 billion) to grow high-yielding varieties of corn and rice in 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of land.
The generally friendly ties between Beijing and Manila have been marred in the past by their conflicting claims over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and alleged poaching by Chinese fishermen in Philippine waters.
Wen and Arroyo said their countries back the common development of the area and encourage "trilateral cooperation by China, the Philippines and Vietnam in maritime seismological research in the South China Sea," Xinhua reported.
Philippines officials also have expressed concern over Chinese citizens staying illegally in the country, and the flow of drugs from the mainland. However, a recent joint anti-drug operation involving China's National Narcotics Control Commission showed increasing cooperation against Chinese drug syndicates.
Wen had been scheduled to visit the Philippines in December, but that trip was moved to January after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and the East Asian leaders meeting he was to attend was postponed due to a storm.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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