US Pres. Obama will most probably witness Duterte’s acceptance of ASEAN chairmanship.
The White House announced that Pres. Barack Obama will be coming to the United States – Association of Southeast Asian Nations (US-ASEAN) Summit and East Asia Summit which will be held in Laon next month.
Obama is the first American president to visit Laos and it marks his 11th visit to Asia.
Laos now holds the presidency of the ASEAN.
There is an on-going tension between Laos and the United States which originated when the US bombed the country during the Vietnam War.
Obama is set to have a series of meetings with world leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and also with Philippine Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
The ASEAN summit will be held on September 6 to 8.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional organisation comprising ten Southeast Asian states which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic integration amongst its members. Since its formation on August 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, the organisation’s membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam.
Its principal aims include accelerating economic growth, social progress, and socio-cultural evolution among its members, alongside the protection of regional stability and the provision of a mechanism for member countries to resolve differences peacefully.
President Duterte earlier emphasized that he has no plans to raise the issue on territorial dispute between the Philippines and China before the Association of South East Asian Nations.
The president prefers to discuss the issue directly with China, saying he would not want to antagonize the neighboring superpower and jeopardize formal talks between the two countries.
“I will only bring the issue when we are together face to face,” Mr. Duterte, referring to China, said when asked in a press briefing if he would take up the issue with the regional bloc.
“If you quarrel with them now and you claim sovereignty, make noise here and there, they might not just even want to talk,” he added.