Chinese President Xi Jinping will be visiting the Philippines on Tuesday. He will be welcomed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in the country's capital Manila, where the two are also scheduled to hold bilateral talks. The visit comes as ties between both countries continue to improve. Here's CGTN's Barnaby Lo with a preview.

The last time Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Philippines, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC Summit was being held in Manila. The year was 2015, the country's president then was Benigno Aquino, and at the time, ties between China and the Philippines had sunk to new lows due to territorial issues in the South China Sea.

BARNABY LO MANILA "The relationship between China and the Philippines is, to say the least, complicated. There is the friendship that goes back hundreds of years, but there is also that territorial dispute in the South China Sea that remains unresolved. The current governments of China and the Philippines, however, led by Xi Jinping and Rodrigo Duterte respectively, have chosen to veer focus away from that conflict.

Duterte wasted no time turning the relationship around, visiting Beijing just a few months after taking office in 2016 and coming home with pledges worth billions of dollars in investments and development aid. Since then, two-way trade and business have been booming.

ALVIN CAMBA GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY CENTER "The Belt and Road is not the only initiative driving Chinese economic capital in the Philippines. It could be the Duterte-China relations. It could be the interest of Chinese firms to invest in the Philippines."

On Tuesday, Xi Jinping is returning to Manila, but this time around, without question, amid a much friendlier atmosphere. The state visit, the first by a Chinese president in 13 years, is expected to fast-track China-funded infrastructure projects.

MEITING LI POLITICAL ANALYST "To elevate such bilateral relations, I think we should expect the materialization of some of the MOU's and agreements that have been signed by the two countries."

Disagreements over territorial ownership in the South China Sea may not be going away soon but setting the stage for Xi Jinping. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in the Philippines just ahead of the Chinese President's upcoming visit, emphasized cooperation over conflict. Barnaby Lo, CGTN, Manila.