Prior to the ASEAN gala dinner Wednesday evening, President Rodrigo Duterte made a courtesy call on Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith at the Presidential Palace, a move that caused him to miss his attendance at the ASEAN-United Nations Summit where UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was in attendance.
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Mr Yasay said: “They met at the holding room and they were the last persons to leave the holding room”. Turns out, they met anyway.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Pefecto Yasay told The Associated Press that the leaders had met. “I think they ironed out their differences”, DFA spokesman Charles Jose said, adding that there will be another opportunity for Duterte and Obama to talk during the US-Asean meeting on Thursday. It all springs from the fact the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends the ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Vientiane on September 7, 2016. Obama then decided that in light of Duterte’s comments, the two probably couldn’t have a “productive” discussion during his final presidential trip to Asia and canceled the meeting. “And I’m very happy that it happened”. 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”.
“Given the important issues that we have, having a meeting a meeting where all we were gonna discuss was a series of comments, frankly did not strike us as the most constructive way to approach a bilateral meeting”, National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said, explaining why the White House chose to cancel the meeting.
Despite US dismay over Duterte’s remarks, current and former US 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.
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Mr Obama and Mr Duterte entered the dinner venue separately, and were seated far apart and did not interact with each other during the dinner, which lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
