250 executives hope to join Duterte on trip to Beijing
Print Edition
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday he would soon visit China and hoped also to travel to Russia, as he again criticized longtime ally the United States of “arrogance.”
The mission to China will be Duterte’s first outside Southeast Asia since assuming the presidency on June 30, a symbolic move highlighting the importance he places on improving ties with China that had soured over competing South China Sea claims.
“China has repeatedly invited me. I have accepted the offer,” Duterte said in a speech at the presidential palace.
He gave no specific dates for the visit, but said it would take place before he went to Japan from October 25 to 27.
After Japan, “probably I will go to Russia,” he said.
Meanwhile, about 250 Philippine business executives are said to have registered to accompany Duterte on his visit to Beijing, a visit they believe will take place next week.
There has been no announcement about the delegation, but business groups and government officials said registration had been oversubscribed.
Filipino executives are eager to talk with Chinese business leaders and government officials about deals in a range of sectors, from rail and construction to tourism, agribusiness, power and manufacturing, sources said.
Initially only about two dozen Philippine entrepreneurs were to accompany Duterte but the number had ballooned to about 250, Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado told reporters yesterday.
“I understand there are 100 more wanting to go,” Terrado said, adding that size of the delegation was unusual because the two sides had agreed on the visit only about one month ago.
In close contact
Officially, China has yet to confirm Duterte’s visit, but foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing yesterday that both sides were in close contact and it hoped Duterte would visit at an early date.
He said both sides had the desire to improve relations and China was willing to increase cooperation in all aspects.
Duterte has looked to build closer ties with China and Russia, while launching repeated tirades against the US, the Philippines’ former colonial ruler and defense ally.
Duterte has canceled joint patrols with the US in the South China Sea, said he may scrap a defense pact that allows thousands of US troops to rotate through the Philippines, and threatened to eventually cut ties completely. Duterte has also branded US President Barack Obama a “son of a whore” for expressing concern about human rights in the drug war.
In contrast, he has described Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “a great president,” and praised China and Russia for showing respect in not criticizing his crime crackdown.
Yesterday, he launched another lengthy critique of the US, branding the nation as arrogant and powerless to stop Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
He also said that the Philippines gained nothing from holding military exercises with the US, which have been a mainstay of the defense relationship.
“What’s the point? They are the only ones benefiting. We are not,” he said, as the two allies wrapped up a week of war games that had involved about 2,000 troops in the Philippines.
Duterte said they were to be the last of his six-year term, putting on ice the 28 exercises that both sides hold each year.
The Philippines has long been regarded as one of Washington’s most loyal allies in Asia, with the two nations bound by a mutual defense pact signed in 1951.
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