Duterte stresses friendship as leaders meet over dinner
Print Edition
LEADERS of Southeast and East Asian nations attending summits in Manila, including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, attended an extravagant gala dinner in Manila yesterday.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte set the tone of cordiality ahead of two days of summit meetings, suggesting that despite their differences over claims to the South China Sea, the leaders should not discuss the issue.
“We have to be friends, the other hotheads would like us to confront China and the rest of the world on so many issues,” Duterte said at a business conference.
“The South China Sea is better left untouched, nobody can afford to go to war. It can ill-afford a violent confrontation.”
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Russia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand arrived one by one for the dinner where they were entertained by singers and dancers.
Each of the men sported a cream-colored barong, a traditional Philippines shirt made of fiber from the pineapple plant, embroidered and worn untouched.
They were served a four-course Filipino-Asian fusion meal prepared by chef Jessie Sincioco, who also designed the menu for Pope Francis when he visited the Philippines in 2015.
Police used water canon to prevent hundreds of protesters reaching the US embassy in Manila ahead of US President Donald Trump’s arrival.
Carrying placards declaring “Dump Trump” and “Down with US Imperialism,” the protesters were blocked by police in riot gear with shields and batons, and then showered with jets of water from a fire engine.
The United States and its former colony the Philippines have been strategic allies since World War II.
Trump is expected to try during the summit to shore up relations that have been strained by Duterte’s notorious anti-US sentiment and his enthusiasm for better ties with China and Russia.
Duterte — sometimes described as the “Trump of the East” because of his brash style — said last week that he would tell the US president to “lay off” if he raised the issue of human rights when they met.
More than 3,900 Filipinos have been killed in what the police call self-defense in a war on drugs declared by Duterte.
Critics say executions are taking place with no accountability, allegations the police reject.
However, Trump praised Duterte in May for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem.”
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