Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will be having a three-day official visit in Japan from October 25 to 27.
The news was announced on Tuesday by no other than the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
If this pushes through, this will be first visit of Duterte to Japan as President. Few weeks ago, he flew to Vietnam for a two-day official visit where he met with the officials and the Filipino community.
In a statement, the ministry said, “during his stay in Japan, the President will make a State Call on His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, will also hold a meeting with the President and host a dinner in his honor.”
“The Government of Japan sincerely welcomes the visit of the President and hopes the visit will further strengthen the friendly relations between Japan and the Republic of Philippines,” it added.
To recall, at the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations summit in Laos in September, Duterte and Abe held a meeting.
Government sources earlier said that officials have tentatively scheduled Duterte’s travel to Japan ahead of China, but the arrangement was turned around for unknown reasons.
According to sources, the said decision disappointed Japanese government officials.
Aside from the said countries, sources also said that Duterte will be visiting Brunei on Oct. 16 to 18 before flying to Xiamen, China on the evening of Oct. 18. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled in Beijing on Oct. 20 and he is expected to fly back to Manila on Oct. 21.
The Malacanang and Beijing have yet to officially announce the schedule of Duterte’s visit to China.
In many of his public speeches, Duterte has been very open about strengthening economic and defense ties with Beijing and even with Russia. On the other hand, he expressed bad remarks towards Manila’s long-time treaty ally, the United States, which criticized his bloody war against illegal drugs.
In the earlier part of the year 2016, Manila won the arbitration case it has filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands in connection to the disputed waters of South China Sea but Beijing refused to respect the decision.