Despite the reported high number of COVID-19 cases in China, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will proceed with his state visit from January 3-5, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

Marcos will depart by early afternoon on January 3 and will arrive by early evening in Beijing, Assistant Foreign Secretary Neal Imperial told reporters.

“He received assurances from our Chinese hosts that all arrangements are being made to ensure the safety of the President and his delegation and a bubble arrangement has been agreed for the Philippine delegation to minimize the risk of exposure to the virus,” Imperial said.

Marcos will be accompanied by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Cabinet officials, and a business delegation.

By January 4, Marcos will be meeting with three Chinese leaders including Standing Committee of the National People's Congress chairman Li Zhanshu, Premier Li Keqiang, and President Xi Jinping.

It will be the second face-to-face meeting between Marcos and Xi in less than two months.

China is the Philippines' largest trading partner, the biggest source of imports and second largest export destination, said Imperial.

“There is an expectation that the state visit will set the tone of bilateral relations between the two countries in the next five to six years,” according to Imperial.

To avoid miscalculation and miscommunication in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea, the Philippines and China have agreed to sign an agreement establishing direct communication between the foreign ministries of both countries at various levels.

This is expected to be signed by Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the state visit, said Imperial.

The Philippines expects an agreement to export durian to China to be finalized.

''The Chinese market has a voracious appetite for durian so we expect a lot of interest in our durian exports and the durian-producing regions in Mindanao. So you can call that some sort of durian diplomacy, I guess,'' said Imperial.

The Philippines plans to review its agreement on participation in the Belt and Road initiative. It is also planning an MOU on digital cooperation, which will be signed by the Secretary of Trade and Industry.

The Philippines is also looking at possible grants from China amounting to 1.5 billion renminbi and a framework agreement for the free priority bridges crossing Pasig-Marikina river, the Manggahan floodway bridges construction project.

Imperial said the Philippines expects an agreement on tourism cooperation to be signed called implementation program on tourism cooperation.

''As you well know, China is our 2nd largest source of tourism in 2019. There were almost 1.8 million tourists who visited the Philippines and now that China is planning to re-open hopefully after it recovers from the surge in COVID cases, we want to resume people to people exchanges and we think it will be a big boost to our tourism sector after the pandemic,'' said Imperial. Jaspearl Tan/DMS