PH 
MANILA (UPDATED) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked over the phone Thursday night, the Chinese embassy in Manila said.
The embassy did not provide additional details as to what the two leaders talked about.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte held a telephone conversation on Thursday evening. pic.twitter.com/iawdom2GEm
— ChineseEmbassyManila (@Chinaembmanila) June 11, 2020
However, China's Xinhua News disclosed that Xi called for coordinated efforts to promote cooperation between Manila and Beijing during his conversation with Duterte.
In a phone call with his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for coordinated efforts to promote China-Philippines cooperation pic.twitter.com/Xak7zpSheX
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 11, 2020
The telephone conversation came days after the two nations marked 45 years of diplomatic ties, and Duterte's letter to Xi.
Duterte, in a June 9 letter to Xi, affirmed Manila's commitment to strengthen the relationship with Beijing as the pandemic, which began in China, continues to upend the stability of the world.
Ties between China and the Philippines has flourished under Duterte, who sought to distance Manila from its traditional ally, the United States.
– with a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
Comment