Philippines' President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has described Chinese President Xi Jinping as a 'great president' as he thanked the Chinese leader for the congratulatory message the latter sent to him.

Political observers said Xi's congratulatory message to Duterte was another hint that the icy relations between the two nations is beginning to warm and that bilateral ties would soon be restored.

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In a news conference on Wednesday, Duterte complimented Xi and described him as a 'great president' in response to questions from the media regarding Xi's congratulatory message to the Philippines new leader.

The tough-talking former mayor of Davao City, who has been criticized for lacking foreign policy experience, heaped praise on the Chinese leader even though he seemed unsure of Xi's official Chinese title.

"I was honored, receiving a congratulatory message from a great president, uh prime minister," Duterte said.

Standard diplomatic tradition

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Xi wrote a letter to Duterte following the latter's victory in the Philippines national elections. This is a standard diplomatic tradition for heads of states.

China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, said Beijing hopes that ties between the two sides would normalize and that bilateral relations would get back on track under the Duterte administration.

Sino-Philippine ties have grown sour under the six-year term of President Benigno Aquino after Manila sued China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea three years ago.

The case was filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), an international arbitration court in the Hague, Netherlands. The court is expected to hand down the ruling this month.

Ruling

Beijing has said that it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the tribunal and refused to participate in the proceedings.

China remains defiant that it will not honor the ruling of the court whichever way it goes. However, the international community continues to urge Beijing to respect the decision of the arbitration court.

The ruling is expected to be acted on by incoming president Duterte. Duterte has said that he is willing to hold multilateral talks with South China Sea claimants countries and some Western third-party nations to resolve the maritime territorial dispute.

Duerte said that if the multilateral talks fail, he would be willing to negotiate directly with China to resolve the festering issue. 

TagsChinese President Xi jinping, Philippine President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte, Permanent Court of Arbitration, china