India’s engagement with the ASEAN and wider Asia-Pacific region has acquired further momentum following the enunciation of the “Act-East Policy” by Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit and 9th East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014.
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The Philippines on Wednesday denied the existence of any crisis with the U.S., after Washington cancelled a bilateral meeting following Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s insults to his United States counterpart Barack Obama. That had caused Obama to cancel a formal meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Pefecto Yasay told reporters: “I am confirming that they met”. “This shows that the relationship between the two allies is strong”. “I didn’t know what had happened, but when I felt metal under my son’s shirt, I knew it was a bomb”.
Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte arrives at the East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 8, 2016. All of them made their way through the holding room before heading to the banquet hall.
The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte.
China is willing to work with ASEAN nations to cement the strategic communication between the two sides, advance the 2+7 cooperation framework, and energetically promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, he said.
The comments was in response to a bombing that took place last week at a crowded market in Duterte’s hometown, Davao City, which killed 14 people and injured 68 others. “I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people”.
“You must be respectful”. Do not just throw away questions and statements. “Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum”, Duterte said, using the Tagalog phrase for “son of a bitch”.
Aiming to cement closer ties to Laos and its people, President Barack Obama toured a Buddhist temple Wednesday and paid tribute to Lao culture after pledging the USA would fulfill its “profound moral and humanitarian obligation” to clean up millions of unexploded bombs.
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China sparked widespread alarm when it converted seven reefs in the Spratly Islands into islands that the United States says could be transformed into military bases to reinforce Beijing’s territorial claims and intimidate rival claimant countries.
