MANILA, Philippines — Beijing welcomed the appointment of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as the country's next secretary of foreign affairs and expressed their willingness to work with him.

"China is ready to work with him to implement the high-level consensus and keep deepening practical cooperation to push forward China-Philippines relations for greater benefits to our peoples and regional peace and stability," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in a press briefing Thursday.

Geng reiterated that the Philippines-China relations have achieved all-around improvement since last year.

Bilateral cooperation also entered a new stage with the guidance of President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Geng added.

"Cooperation across the board has recovered and yielded fruitful outcomes. Our relationship is making overall progress," Geng said.

Earlier this week, Duterte appointed his former running mate as the secretary of foreign affairs, replacing acting Secretary Enrique Manalo.

Manalo took the place of former Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., whose ad interim appointment was rejected by the congressional Commission on Appointments after misleading statements on his citizenship.

“I remember I signed an appointment just before I left my room and I saw the name of Sen. Cayetano sa DFA,” Duterte said.

As the country's next top diplomat, Cayetano said that the Philippines would welcome any United Nations (UN) special rapporteur to investigate drug-related killings if they are "independent and fair."

Cayetano had questioned the fairness of UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard after the latter released critical statements against the Duterte administration's so-called war on drugs.

Callamard, under the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, previously led human rights investigations in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.