After Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s election as president of the Philippines on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated him.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila claims that Xi wrote Marcos a letter of congratulations in which he recalled the “important consensus” their two nations had formed “on upholding good-neighborly friendship” and “joining hands for common development.”

According to a statement from the embassy, “Xi said he is ready to work with Marcos to chart the course for the development of bilateral ties from a strategic and long-term perspective and continue to write a great chapter of the China-Philippines friendship and cooperation for the new era, so as to benefit the two countries and their people.”

Marcos and Xi spoke over the phone after Marcos won the presidential election in May of last year, and Xi described Marcos as “a builder, supporter, and promoter of” the two nations’ alliance.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte was followed by Marcos, whose government improved ties with Beijing despite a persistent maritime conflict in the South China Sea.