BEIJING (Reuters) -&nbsp;China's&nbsp;President&nbsp;Xi&nbsp;Jinping told former&nbsp;Philippine&nbsp;President&nbsp;Rodrigo&nbsp;Duterte&nbsp;to continue to&nbsp;promote&nbsp;cooperation between the two countries, after bilateral relations cooled with&nbsp;Duterte's successor seeking closer&nbsp;ties&nbsp;with Washington.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr was elected as&nbsp;president&nbsp;for a six-year term in 2022, taking over from&nbsp;Duterte&nbsp;who had adopted a more pro-China&nbsp;stance.
"I hope you will continue to play an important role in the friendly cooperation (between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Philippines)," state media cited&nbsp;Xi&nbsp;as saying during a meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest-house in Beijing on Monday.
Under Marcos, relations between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Philippines have grown tense, with Manila pivoting back to its traditional ally, the United States.
The&nbsp;Philippines and the U.S reaffirmed a decades-old security alliance during a trip by Marcos to the U.S. in May, where he met with&nbsp;President&nbsp;Joe Biden, who said the U.S. commitment to defending its ally was "ironclad".
Washington has pledged to defend the&nbsp;Philippines, which allowed the U.S. access to four additional military bases this year, angering Beijing.
Marcos also said granting U.S. access to the bases was a defensive step that would be "useful" if&nbsp;China&nbsp;attacked democratically governed Taiwan, which&nbsp;China&nbsp;claims as part of its territory.
China&nbsp;has always insisted on being friendly with its neighbours, which it sees as its partners,&nbsp;Xi&nbsp;said, without commenting on the state of current bilateral&nbsp;ties.
"During your tenure as&nbsp;president&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Philippines, you had resolutely made the strategic choice to improve relations with&nbsp;China&nbsp;in an attitude of being responsible to the people and to history,"&nbsp;Xi&nbsp;told&nbsp;Duterte.
Last month,&nbsp;Duterte&nbsp;told domestic media that the&nbsp;Philippines could become a "graveyard" if it gets caught up in U.S.-China&nbsp;tensions.
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(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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Xi tells ex-Philippine president Duterte to promote ties with China