(Eagle News) – United States President Donald Trump will be in the country for only two days during the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Meetings, and will also have a bilateral meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte.
This was confirmed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, saying that Trump will only be in the country from November 12 to 13.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella also said that Trump will join the special gala celebration dinner for the ASEAN’s 50 year on November 12, and then meet with President Duterte the next day, November 13.
Trump will no longer attend the East Asia Summit in Clark, Pampanga. Instead, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will attend in Trump’s place.
“So now that it has been finalized, that the East Asia Summit is on the 14th, it looks like his Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson) would be the one to attend,” Cayetano said.
Trump will, however, still attend the US-ASEAN Summit scheduled on Nov. 13, where security and economy, even issues about terrorism and North Korea, are expected to be discussed.
In the US-ASEAN meeting, Trump is expected to extol the 40th year of US-ASEAN relationship.
-Trump’s 12-day Asian trip-
The US President will have a 12-day trip in Asia, and two days of which will be in the Philippines.
The White House has already released details of Trump’s upcoming trip to Asia, which will include stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines in early November.
“The president’s travel will underscore his commitment to longstanding United States alliances and partnerships, and reaffirm United States leadership in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said.
Trump will start the Nov. 3 to 14 travel in Hawaii, with a briefing from the U.S. Pacific Command. This will be his first trip to the Pacific Island. He will be visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial.
He will then go to Japan on November 5 where he will have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The next stop will be South Korea where he will have meetings with President Moon Jae-in and visit US troops there.
On November 8, he is expected to be in China where he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the White House.
Before his visit to the Philippines, he will be attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Vietnam on November 10 where he will also hold meetings with Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang and other officials in Hanoi.
First Lady Melania Trump is said to be joining Trump in his first ever Asian trip as US President.
Trump will leave Manila on the evening of November 13, after the White House confirmed that he will cut his Asia trip a day earlier.
(Eagle News Service)