Prime Minister Modi had a brief chat with President Obama on Sunday at the G20 summit in China.
Advertisement
A migraine has prevented Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte from attending any of the day’s ASEAN meetings, official sources reported.
Nevertheless, Duterte’s office earlier Wednesday released a statement saying he would sit next to Obama at the gala dinner.
The two leaders were supposed to meet one-on-one on Tuesday on the sidelines of the leaders’ summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, Laos.
The U.S. leader said Duterte’s remarks had no impact on broader ties with the Philippines.
China is among the countries taking part in Thursday’s summit, which includes the 10 ASEAN member states and Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. [Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Images] It’s been reported that the Philippines have always had a very positive view of the United States for decades, and that relations between the two countries is not only strong, but also exclusive and special with a majority of the county seeing the US favorably.
Obama said both of their governments should work together to advance relations between their two countries. “I can’t say how long they met”, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, travelling with Duterte, told reporters shortly afterwards. He said it was a mutually agreed meeting, but that he had no details of what was discussed.
Duterte missed a scheduled one-on-one with Obama, who postponed the meeting after the brash Philippine leader called him a “son of a bitch” in a pre-departure speech and threatened to swear at him if the USA leader raised concerns over Duterte’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
Obama, in turn, called Duterte “a colorful guy” and signaled that the bi-lateral, face-to-face meeting may be canceled.
Thursday’s meeting is said to be the eighth meeting between the two leaders in the last two years. “You must be respectful”. “Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum”, Duterte said, using the Tagalog phrase for “son of a bitch”.
Advertisement
India and the U.S. have been calling for freedom of passage in the global waters, much to the discomfort to Beijing, whose claim over SCS was recently struck down by an worldwide tribunal in favour of the Philippines. “But I can tell you from the interactions I have had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders that this is serious business”.
