China on Friday denied reports that a Philippine high-level delegation will visit Beijing this week to brief officials on the investigation into the hostage crisis in which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.

A Foreign Ministry official, who refused to be named, said the reports, which claimed that the visit was slated for Thursday but was rejected, were wrong.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Thursday urged the Philippines to probe into the bus-taking incident in Manila to get the bottom of the matter, noting this is the urgent task on hand.

The 11-hour hostage crisis in Manila, involving a 21-member Hong Kong tour group, ended Monday night.

The dismissed Filipino police officer Rolando Mendoza, who hijacked the tour bus in the morning and demanded the authorities to reinstate himself to the service, was also killed during an hour-long police assault.

Jiang said the Chinese side and the Philippines are in contact regarding the incident.

Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo were reported to be preparing to go to Beijing to submit a report on the incident.

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