Metro Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed cooperation with China as it assumed next year’s chairmanship of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Saturday, Nov. 1, in a surprising handshake with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The gesture was the only interaction Marcos had with Xi during the two-day APEC Summit in South Korea, with the tensions in the disputed West Philippine Sea unmentioned in the brief encounter.
“I congratulated President Xi Jinping as China [assumed] the APEC Chairmanship in 2026, and reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to partnership and meaningful cooperation in our region,” Marcos wrote in a Facebook post.
After Xi said China will host the 33rd APEC Leaders’ Meeting in a closed-door ceremony, the Chinese leader and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stood up and shook hands, as seen in a video of Korean media.
As they settled in their seats, Marcos approached Xi to also shake his hands. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi quickly got up to interpret the Philippine leader’s words.
Marcos said it was just “common courtesy,” adding he was seizing the moment as he could not get a word with the Chinese president on the sidelines of the summit because of his security detail.
“When we came to the end, sabi ko, nakakahiya ito, hindi pa ako bumabati. Baka kung ano sabihin, baka naman ma-offend, so pinilit kong makapunta sa kanya,” the president told Philippine media after the APEC summit.
[Translation: When we came to the end [of the summit], I thought to myself it’s embarrassing that I have not greeted him yet. Maybe he will say something or get offended by it so I insisted on approaching him.]
“Sabi ko lang sa kanya [I told him]: ‘Congratulations, we look forward to doing a lot of good work with you as APEC chair. Thank you, thank you.’ Tapos ayon [That was it]. There was really not very much to it,” he said as he recounted the moment.
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