“You don’t approach a country like China from a position of weakness, you approach them from a position of strength”, said Searight, now director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
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This could be their last meeting as leaders of the two countries with Obama’s second term as US President coming to an end in November.
Najib said the meeting also targeted the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the adoption of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea (COC) to be implemented next year.
Duterte later expressed “regret” for his comments.
Despite U.S. dismay over Duterte’s remarks, current and former U.S. officials played down the impact, saying they did not expect any serious damage to ties at a time of high tensions over China’s extensive territorial claims in Asia.
Amy Searight, a former senior USA defense official who led the final negotiations, said the alliance remains strong and US officials are not too concerned about the pending implementation of the new defense cooperation pact – a key part of the Obama administration’s strategic push into Asia.
Obama and Duterte are in the Laotian capital along with other regional leaders for the summit.
Obama said they shook hands but that it was a brief interaction, adding that he’d told Duterte their aides should confer on how the two treaty allies can move forward.
During the meeting, Obama also praised Modi’s vision of entrepreneurship and innovation, which he said would be “very important for a country like India”. That deal is awaiting ratification in the U.S. Congress.
Said Mr. Duterte: “We will pursue initiative and enhance cooperation with global partners to ensure that Asean citizens live in peace, stability, security and growth, all the while remaining Asean’s centrality, unity and solidarity”.
Obama earlier canceled a meeting with Duterte after the Philippine leader referred to him in comments to reporters as a “son of a bitch” and warned him not to discuss the deaths of thousands of suspects in an anti-drug campaign. In a joint statement issued by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, members were expected to issue a mild rebuke to China without referencing it by name.
Obama is telling young people at an event in Luang Prabang that he lived in Indonesia as a boy and his sister is half Indonesian.
Obama has since become an addition to a long list of people whose mothers have been insulted by Duterte, including Pope Francis, several Philippine bishops, a murdered journalist, and drug traffickers who are the prime targets of his domestic law and order policies.
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“Representatives from the U.N.as well as worldwide human-rights groups”, the said report noted, “have condemned the rampant slaughter, to which Duterte’s response has been dismissive”.
