MANILA -- China and the Philippines agreed on Saturday to further deepen friendship and promote cooperation between the two countries.

When meeting with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos said his country and China have maintained close exchanges and yielded fruitful results in cooperation.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affairs and the Philippines will continue adhering to the one-China policy as it has always done, he said, adding that his country will stick to strategic independence rather than take sides.

The Philippines is willing to strengthen communication, properly handle maritime issues and prevent them from disturbing overall relationship of the two countries, so as to safeguard the regional peace and prosperity.

For his part, Qin said mutual respect, friendship, keeping promises, trustworthiness, and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries are in the fundamental interests of both sides. Both experiences and lessons should be learned.

Both sides should further enhance communication, deepen mutual trust and overcome difficulties and disturbances, in order to create favorable conditions for cooperation and ensure sound and stable development of bilateral ties, he said.

Qin said the two countries should make joint efforts to become good neighbors, good relatives and good partners as envisioned during President Marcos' visit to China earlier this year.

The Chinese official wished the Philippine side could properly handle Taiwan-related and maritime issues based on regional peace and stability as well as the fundamental interests of both peoples.

He called on the Philippines to earnestly respond to China's legitimate concerns and respect China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, as well as honor its commitment to upholding strategic independence rather than picking sides.

China proposes to further improve the liaison mechanism on maritime issues to properly manage the situation, Qin added.