MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has accepted China government's invitation to visit Beijing, Malacañang said on Friday.

"There was an invitation but there is no date as of yet," Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles told reporters in a Palace briefing.

This came following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's official visit to the Philippines earlier this week.

• China ready for ‘golden era’ with the Philippines under Marcos Jr.

Meanwhile, Angeles said Marcos wanted to "bring the bilateral ties with China to a higher level" and this was among those discussed during his meet with Wang.

On Tuesday, the President said he would "find ways to work to resolve the conflicts that we have" with China during his meeting with Wang.

But China's top diplomat, she noted, supposedly said Philippines' "friendship" with his country "transcends" any maritime dispute.

Manila is in a maritime dispute with Beijing amid the latter's incursions in the West Philippine sea, the country's exclusive economic zone in the resource-rich South China Sea.

• Marcos Jr. meets China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi

A 2016 Arbitral ruling invalidated China's economic claims in the disputed waters but the Asian power continues to disregard this and instead ramped up militarization in the area.

The Philippines' newly-elected President earlier said that he would keep an independent foreign policy.

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