Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is prepared to offer visa-free travel for Chinese tourists on his three-day state visit to China on Oct. 18-21, the Philippine Star reported.

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The president stressed that granting visa waiver will allow the Philippines to get a huge slice of China's flourishing tourism economy.

Between January and July this year, more than 422,000 Chinese tourists arrived in the country, grabbing the third spot with 11.95 percent of the market share.

Duterte, on the other hand, acknowledged concerns over the possible adverse implications especially on China-based criminals such as alleged drug lords who might take advantage of the visa-free privilege.

For this reason, Duterte said he confronted Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua about the concern, asking "Are you trying to destabilize my country with these drugs?"

China responded to the concern offering the Philippines to help on the drug campaign and build rehabilitation centers for the thousand of drug users and pushers who surrendered.

"We stand ready to have anti-drug cooperation with the Philippines and formulate a common action plan for it," Geng Shuang, a spokesperson from Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a press briefing in China on Sept. 29.

The Philippine government currently offers visa-free privileges to tourists from nearly 50 countries including member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and island states around the world.

Waived visas allow visitors to stay in the county for 14 days to a maximum of 150 days. However, visa waiver must be on a reciprocal basis, which means, Beijing should also offer the same privilege to Filipino tourists heading to China.

The Philippines landed on the 11th spot as China's top source travel markets. It welcomed more than a million arrivals, up 3.7 percent from 2014. Top three go-to destinations are Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

TagsPhilippines, visa free travel, china, tourism, Beijing, President Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte, Duterte's Drug War, Chinese Tourists