On January 15, 2007, visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Presidential Palace in Manila. During the talks, the two leaders highly evaluated the Sino-Philippine relations and expressed their willingness to take more active measures to push bilateral ties towards deeper development. The talks were held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere and both leaders expressed satisfaction over the result of the talks.

Wen said that China and the Philippines are friendly neighbors, and the people of the two countries have a tradition of friendly exchange which dated back to long time ago. In the 32 years after the two countries established diplomatic relations, the relations between the two countries have obtained satisfying development, whose highest level of development is embodied by the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership dedicated to peace and development. As President Arroyo has said, bilateral ties have entered "the golden era".

Wen said peace, cooperation and development are common desire of the people of all countries in the region. He expressed his satisfaction over the deepening relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and prospering cooperation in the East Asian region, which he said have given unprecedented opportunity and wider space for development of bilateral relations between. He said the Chinese government is ready to further deepen cooperation with the Philippine side in all fields on the basis of equality, mutual trust, and mutual benefit. The Premier said China also wishes to closely coordinate with the Philippines to push forward China-ASEAN relations and East Asian cooperation process, in order to contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

Wen fully acknowledged the results from the first phase of cooperation in the joint development of the South China Sea by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. He pointed out that the trilateral cooperation in developing the South China Sea is of great significance to peace and stability in the South China Sea region, as well as the increase of mutual trust among the three countries. He expressed his hope that the three countries will start consultations as soon as possible on the next phase of cooperation plan for the joint development of the South China Sea and reach consensus, in order to have more substantial results on the joint development of the water body at an early date.

Wen also highly appreciated the Philippine government's long-standing adherence to the one-China policy and expressed his gratitude for its support to China's grand cause of peaceful reunification.

President Arroyo said Filipino-Chinese relations have attained a very high level and the two countries have been carrying out substantial cooperation in a wide range of areas. She said the present Filipino-Chinese relations have entered an era of golden age characterized by a high-level mutual trust, comprehensive development and full maturity. Arroyo said the China-ASEAN Summit in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between the two sides held last October in Nanning and the just-concluded 10th ASEAN-China Summit in Cebu have given a clear direction and specified plans for better development in the future of relations between ASEAN and China. She said the two summits also have opened a wide perspective for the development of bilateral relations between the Philippines and China. The Philippines is willing to take this opportunity to strengthen its strategic cooperative relations with China.

Arroyo expressed her gratitude for the help provided by China to Philippines' economic and social development, as well as disaster reduction and relief. She said the Philippines regards China as an important cooperative partner, and is ready to tap all potential of cooperation and widen the scale of bilateral economic and trade and investment cooperation. Arroyo expressed her confidence that the signing of the "Agreement on Trade in Services of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area" will provide more opportunities for the two countries to carry out cooperation in relevant fields. She said the Philippines welcomes more Chinese businesses to come and invest, especially in the fields of agriculture, fishery and infrastructure.

Arroyo said the Philippines has many Filipino-Chinese citizens and Chinese culture has great influence in the Philippines. The Philippines wishes to enhance exchanges with China in the field of humanities, she added.

Arroyo said that the Philippines intends to seek further cooperation with China in the joint development of the South China Sea.

During the talks, both sides reached a wide range of consensus on developing bilateral relations in the following 10 aspects.

First, China and the Philippines should enlarge friendly exchanges at all levels, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between government agencies, parliaments, political parties and the armies of the two countries.

Second, the two countries should push forward strategic cooperation and work out as soon as possible a common plan of action for Sino-Philippine strategic cooperation.

Third, both sides should also strengthen cooperation in railway, electric power and communications in the Philippines, and China is ready to provide more preferential treatment to the Philippines in its financing infrastructure projects.

Fourth, the Philippines welcomes China to support the agro-modernization process in the Philippines through providing aid in introducing agro-products, providing agro-technology, training of agro-professionals and upgrading agriculture equipment.

Fifth, both sides should continue advancing financial cooperation, including the exchange of currencies of the two countries.

Sixth, the two countries should carry out cooperation in disaster rescue and prevention, and help each other upgrade the capacity of disaster reduction and prevention.

Seventh, both sides should promote joint development of the South China Sea and encourage trilateral cooperation among China, the Philippines and Vietnam in maritime seismological research in the South China Sea in order to let it obtain substantial results at an early date.

Eighth, the two countries should deepen defense and security cooperation, strengthen consultations and coordination in non-traditional security fields of fighting terrorism, drugs and transnational crimes.

Ninth, the two countries should encourage friendly exchanges among their provinces and cities, people-to-people exchanges, and cooperation in tourism and education.

Tenth, China and the Philippines should also seek closer consultation and coordination over major international and regional issues.

Following the talks, the two leaders attended a signing ceremony of a number of cooperation documents in the areas of economy, trade, culture and finance.

Prior to the talks, Arroyo held a grand welcoming ceremony for Wen. On the evening, Premier Wen attended the welcoming banquet hosted by Arroyo.