Duterte and Xi talks about regional developments

MANILA, May 3 (APD)--The Department of Foreign Affairs disclosed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged views about regional developments and how some concerns can be addressed.

This comes at the heels of President Donald Trump’s phone call to President Duterte last Saturday evening after the Gala Dinner for ASEAN heads of state at Sofitel Hotel Manila where the American head of state invited his Filipino counterpart to visit Washington sometime soon.

In a statement released a few minutes before 10:00 P.M. local time Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs described the phone conversation as “very cordial.”

President Duterte said the Philippines’ position on several salient issues especially on developments in the Korean Peninsula and “referred to China’s important role in promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

The same statement said in President Duterte’s capacity as Chair of ASEAN (this year), he spoke about how to further strengthen ties with ASEAN’s dialogue partners and shared the outcomes of the recently concluded successful ASEAN Summit.

“He also mentioned that as Chair of ASEAN, ASEAN discussd and agreed on measures to promote ASEAN unity, centrality and solicarity as well as ASEAN commitment to continue promoting peace and stability in the Asia Pacific Region” the statement concluded.