BEIJING, Jan. 4 -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with visiting President of the Republic of the Philippines Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. in Beijing on Wednesday.

Noting that China and the Philippines are close neighbors with a long history of friendly exchanges between the two peoples and steady progress on pragmatic cooperation in various fields, Li said Marcos' visit at the beginning of the new year is indicative of a good start to bilateral ties.

Li said China attaches great importance to relations with the Philippines, adding that China is ready to strengthen high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, promote pragmatic cooperation with the Philippines to maintain regional peace and development and better benefit the two peoples.

Li said China is willing to work with the Philippines to better synergize development strategies to promote infrastructure cooperation, continuously deepen economic and trade cooperation, expand imports of readily marketable quality agricultural products from the Philippines, and beef up cooperation on new energy, including wind and solar energy, and strengthen cooperation on people-to-people exchanges and the recovery of tourism, among other areas.

The premier said maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea serves the interests of countries within the region, including China and the Philippines. It is hoped that all sides will work together to facilitate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to build the sea into one featuring peace, friendship and cooperation, he added.

Calling China a brother, partner and friend of the Philippines, Marcos said the Philippines is willing to deepen cooperation in various fields on all levels and work to forge a strong partnership with China. He said the Philippines hopes to enhance communications with China to properly settle issues related to the South China Sea and maintain the peace and stability of the bilateral ties and the region.