MANILA - The Philippines was invited to compete in a Chinese dance festival, proof of warming ties between Manila and Beijing, the performers said.

Organizers of the Shanghai Tourism Festival said they wanted to invite the Kahayag Dance Company as early as 2013, but refrained from doing so due to the "strain" between the Philippines and China, Kahayag Artistic Director Engel Zerna said in a statement.

The Dumaguete City-based Kahayag was among 25 performers chosen from a pool of 85 applicants. The dance festival is scheduled on Sept. 8 to 13.

Kahayag Dance Company was grand prize winner of the 2015 World Cultural Dance Festival in South Korea.

Ties between Manila and Beijing have warmed since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in June last year and chose not to flaunt the Philippines' legal victory over China in an international court over disputed reefs and outcrops in the South China Sea.