Aquino China visit to cost taxpayers P25M

MANILA, Philippines—The Aquino administration will spend P25 million for the five-day state visit to China of President Benigno Aquino, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.  said Tuesday.

The President was scheduled to leave for Beijing at 6 p.m. Tuesday on a special commercial flight. He will leave with a group of over 200 businessmen hoping to clinch major investment deals.

Accompanying the President will be Foreign Secretary  Albert del Rosario, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Energy Secretary Rene Almendras and Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas.

According to Ochoa, the P25 million budget for the President’s state visit will cover expenses for the special commercial flight, hotel accommodations, food, transportation, telecommunication and equipment requirements, among other things.

Aquino, who was invited by Chinese President Hu Jintao, will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen. He was expected to meet with top Chinese officials and business leaders there.

“The primary objective of the President’s visit is to further strengthen bilateral ties between the Philippines and China, especially in the aspect of trade and commerce,” Ochoa said in a statement.

Aquino will go first to Beijing to meet with the Chinese head of state and then sign economic agreements as well as attend a state banquet in his honor.

He is also scheduled to meet with Premier Wen Jiabao and legislators, including Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, as well as members of the Filipino community in the Chinese capital.

In Shanghai, the Chief Executive is to meet with local officials and major business groups and sign agreements aimed at boosting trade. He will also hold a meeting with Filipinos working in this premier economic hub.

The last leg of Aquino’s trip would take him to Xiamen, including a side trip to the village of  Hongjian in Fujian province where he will view the araucaria tree planted in 1988 by his mother, former president Corazon C. Aquino. The President will then plant his own tree in the village and interact with the members of the Xu (Co) clan, to which his late mother traced her ancestral roots.