Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday in Beijing that he may visit Japan in the second week of February to discuss economic and regional security, among other topics, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Marcos told a press conference before wrapping up his three-day state visit to China that the Philippines is "seen as an important part of maintaining" regional security "in partnership with friends" like Japan and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

Marcos, who took office in June last year, held his first in-person talks with Kishida in September in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering. They also met briefly in Cambodia in November.

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