US scales back attendance at East Asia Summit

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's new national security adviser will represent the United States at the East Asia Summit, the White House said Tuesday, the lowest-level official to lead the Washington delegation since it was first invited to the regional forum.

With Trump embroiled in an impeachment inquiry, the muted presence at the Nov. 3-4 summit in Bangkok is sure to renew charges that the United States is not focused on Asia at a time that China's clout is growing.

The White House said that Robert O'Brien, who took over the position in September from the hawkish John Bolton, would lead a US delegation that will include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who will also travel separately to Indonesia and Vietnam.

Despite Trump's non-attendance, he is expected to go the following week to a separate summit of the Pacific Rim-wide APEC bloc in Santiago, Chile.

The East Asia Summit concept was promoted for years by Malaysia's veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an outspoken proponent of the continent's future who envisioned an eventual bloc akin to the European Union.

But the United States was controversially excluded from the inaugural summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2005, drawing widespread commentary in Asia that Washington was too preoccupied with the Middle East.

After President Barack Obama vowed to pivot US attention toward Asia, the United States -- as well as Russia -- were invited as full participants in the summits starting in 2011.

Obama attended each year except 2013, when he was fighting congressional Republicans over a government shutdown and sent secretary of state John Kerry instead.

Trump flew to the Philippines for his first East Asia Summit in 2017 but, with the session running late, he left early and ended a 12-day trip to Asia, with then secretary of state Rex Tillerson taking his place.

Last year, Vice President Mike Pence attended the summit in Singapore, where he described China's militarization of the dispute-rife South China Sea as "illegal and dangerous" and vowed to stand by US allies in the region.

Trump has said that he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to seek headway in a trade war at the November 16-17 APEC summit in Chile, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has also confirmed his attendance.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pia Wurtzbach, ASEAN put world spotlight on Philippine chocolates

MANILA - Pia Wurtzbach swears by her Miss Universe crown that a local chocolate brand is better than the foreign competition, so much so that she sent a box to Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton.

And when Pacific Rim leaders converge in the Philippines this week to discuss free trade and nuclear tensions in the Korean peninsula, their spouses will get dark chocolates from Davao City, President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown.

Filipino chocolatiers are pushing back against imported candies that are being offered at cheaper prices while building niche markets abroad.

"Kapag tinanggal mo yang mga brand na yan, hindi mo talaga mapapansin yung difference kasi masarap talaga siya," Wurtzbach told ABS-CBN News.

(If you strip the brand names, you won't notice the difference because it's really delicious.)

Hilton asked for samples of the chocolate brand she was endorsing when she posted a photo on Instagram, Wurtzbach said. The gossip writer was among judges who voted unanimously for the Filipina beauty queen during the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant.

Foreign brands such as Cadbury and Meiji have been offering smaller servings at around P20 per bar to compete on price with local brands such as Goya, endorsed by Wurtzbach.

Still, Filipinos prefer local brands due to their "level of sweetness that suits local taste preferences," research firm Euromonitor International said in a study.

Chocolates and chocolate-covered bars such as Nips and Cloud 9 from tycoon John Gokongwei's Universal Robina, accounted for 61 percent of the market last year, according to Euromonitor.

Davao-based Malagos Chocolates has built a steady following abroad with its dark chocolate bars and tablets that dissolve into drinks. Spouses of ASEAN leaders will get to try both this week, courtesy of Honeylet Avancena, the President's partner.

 Philippine cacao gives Malagos Chocolates its unique flavor, said lead chocolatier Rex Puentespina told ABS-CBN News.


"It has to be local because we really have to promote sustainability para magtulong-tulungan tayo (We need to help each other)," he said.

Malagos is experimenting with chocolate-covered dried fruits and more Instagram-friendly packaging to attract more clients, especially in hotels, Puentespina said.

The company's foreign clients include a Singaporean ice cream shop that uses Malagos in its concoctions, he said.

"Tourism arrivals there is very high and it's close to us, but it's a tough market also because all the major brands are there and they are price-sensitive, he said.

For Wurtzbach, international recognition for Philippine chocolates is overdue.

"I think it's about time na ma-recognize worldwide ang isang Filipino brand na kaya din naman to be at par with international brands," she said.

(I think it's about time that a Filipino brand is recognized worldwide, that it can be at par with international brands.)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Southeast Asian leaders wrestle over China at summit

MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte faced pushback on Saturday at a regional summit over his efforts to weaken Southeast Asian resistance to Chinese expansionism in the contested South China Sea, diplomats said.

Duterte was due to release a chairman's statement at the end of the one-day Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) leaders meeting that ignored an international tribunal ruling rejecting China's sweeping claims to the strategically vital waterway.

Ahead of the summit, Duterte said the Philippines and other nations were helpless to stop Chinese artificial island building in areas they claimed, so there was no point discussing it at diplomatic events such as Saturday's summit.

But diplomats said other ASEAN nations, unhappy with intense Chinese lobbying of the Philippines, had sought to toughen up the chairman's statement and there were hot debates on the issue leading up to Saturday's summit.

"It can't be seen that ASEAN has totally given in to Chinese pressure," a Southeast Asian diplomat in Manila for the event told AFP.

China has been turning reefs and shoals in areas of the sea claimed by the Philippines and other nations into artificial islands, and installing military facilities there.

The United States has criticized the construction work, warning against militarization in the waterway where $5 trillion in annual trade passes.

ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the sea, but China insists it has sovereign rights over nearly all of it.

The Philippines, under previous president Benigno Aquino, had lobbied hard at ASEAN summits for the bloc to voice its strong opposition to the Chinese expansionism, and official statements at those events often reflected that.

Aquino also filed a case at a UN-backed tribunal asking it to reject China's claims and artificial island building.

The tribunal last year ruled largely in the Philippines' favor. But the ruling came after Duterte took power.

CHINA WIN

Duterte steadfastly refused to use the verdict to pressure China, instead pursuing warmer relations and billions of dollars' worth of trade and aid.

In a speech to open the summit, Duterte made no reference to the South China Sea.

Duterte's chairman's statement, which is meant to reflect the views of all ASEAN leaders, will voice concern but not mention the ruling nor China directly, according to excerpts of the latest draft on Saturday obtained by AFP.

China, through its ambassador to Manila, had this week been campaigning to weaken it further, delegates and diplomats told AFP.

"The lobbying is quite intense. They (China) want it further watered down," one diplomat told AFP.

China had wanted ASEAN to remove a reference to "respect for legal and diplomatic processes", and it was taken out of the South China Sea section of the latest draft of the chairman's statement.

Filipino diplomats said the phrase was important because "legal and diplomatic processes" encompassed the entire process of the filing of the case in the tribunal until its resolution.

Nevertheless, the new draft statement reintroduced a call for no further "land reclamation and militarization" of the sea.

Diplomats said the reinclusion of the reference to land reclamation and militarization meant that some ASEAN countries were not comfortable with "total acquiescence" to China.

"This has to be reflected in the statement," one diplomat, who did not want to be named, told AFP.

Another diplomat said Vietnam had insisted the references to the land reclamation and militarization be reintroduced.

The chairman's statement was due to be released on Saturday afternoon, after the ASEAN leaders finished their meetings and ahead of an informal dinner.

The summit was also being closely watched for how Duterte, who has shocked with curse-laden tirades against the United States and other critics of his deadly drug war, handles hosting his first major diplomatic event.

Duterte's drug war, which has claimed thousands of lives and led to warnings by rights groups about a possible crime against humanity, has been widely condemned in the West.

But he has enjoyed support from some of his Southeast Asian guests this week, including Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

ASEAN leaders group photo

President Duterte leads other heads of state in a group photo at the opening ceremony of the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on Saturday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Clinton: Obama made right decision on Duterte

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said U.S. President Barack Obama made the right decision to cancel his meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

"With respect to the Philippines, President Obama made exactly the right choice," Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane. "When you meet with anyone, ally or adversary, you come in with a list of issues that are important to be raised. You determine what they are."

Expletive-laden comments made by Duterte regarding the U.S. and Obama before he left for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on Monday have resulted in Washington calling off a bilateral meeting between the two nations.

Duterte threatened to curse at Obama if the American leader voices concern over the Philippines' brutal campaign against drugs and crime. Duterte later sought to defuse the row, voicing regret.

The two had been scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Laos.


 Clinton said Obama wanted to raise the issue of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines under the Duterte administration's ongoing war on illegal drugs.

"On the other side, they determine what they want to raise. And clearly the president was going to raise concerns that are global about what is going on in the Philippines with extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers, that is now somewhere up near 2,000 killings," she said.

"When the president of the Philippines insulted our president, it was appropriate and a very low key way to say: sorry, no meeting. And since then there's been an apology and an expression of regret, which is appropriate," Clinton added.

'Words matter'

Obama's planned meeting with his Philippine counterpart was canceled because the tone of Duterte's rhetoric raised questions about the chances for a productive talks, the U.S. State Department also said on Tuesday.

"Words matter, and we want to see an atmosphere that is cordial and open to strong cooperation," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump, on the other hand took to Twitter to take potshots at Obama over Duterte's expletive and China's treatment of the current U.S. president.

"China wouldn't provide a red carpet stairway from Air Force One and then Philippines President calls Obama 'the son of a whore.' Terrible!' Trump said.

    China wouldn't provide a red carpet stairway from Air Force One and then Philippines President calls Obama "the son of a whore." Terrible!

 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016

Duterte's regret

Duterte has issued a statement saying he hopes to resolve his spat with Washington, a long-time ally of the Philippines.

"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret that it came across as a personal on the US President," he said in a statement read by Presidential spokesperson Ernest Abella.

"Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have a had long standing partnership," he said. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries."

Duterte clarified that he gave his consent to the cancellation of what would have been his first meeting with the US leader.

"The meeting between the United States and the Philippines has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date," he said.

But Presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza admitted that the meeting has yet to be rescheduled.

"It's being moved to a later date, so let's wait when that date will be announced," he said.

The perceived strain on the US-Philippine relations comes as Manila seeks to reinforce a tribunal ruling that invalidated the historic claims of China to the resource-rich South China Sea. - with reports from Reuters

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com