MANILA, Philippines - Bilateral relations between China and the Philippines will not be affected by recent issues involving the Spratly Islands territorial dispute. 

This was the assurance given by Jiang Shusheng, Vice Chairman of the 11th National People's Congress of China to Vice President Jejomar Binay during his courtesy call on Friday morning.

"We touched briefly on the Spratlys issue and napag-usapan nga namin na parehong may concern sa nangyayari pero hindi ito dapat hayaan na makaapekto sa bilateral relations natin. He is very diplomatic at ang importante nga na sinabi pa niya ay serious sila sa desire to have more active trade relations between our countries," Binay said.

The Vice President also added that he asked about the status of the proposed prisoner exchange, but no commitment was given by Chinese authorities as this is still being studied.

Binay said the status of 5 Filipinos on death row in China was not discussed.