Biden’s rep Emhoff, Chinese VP, Japan FM call on VP Sara
SPECIAL envoys of the United States, China, Japan, Vietnam and Lao PDR paid separate courtesy calls on incoming Vice President Sara Duterte Wednesday in Manila.
The Vice President-elect also received two women ambassadors based in Manila—romanian Ambassador Răduţa Dana Matache and French Ambassador Michèle Jeannine Andree Boccoz.
US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, who will head the US presidential delegation during President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s inaugural at noon Thursday, congratulated the Vp-elect on her overwhelming victory, as well as her nomination as Secretary of Education.
Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, exchanged views with Duterte on “issues of mutual interest, especially education and the importance of youth engagement and women in leadership.”
Duterte said she is expected to continue her engagement with the US on the education front during her planned visits to Washington DC and New York in September 2022.
Aside from Emhoff, other members of the US delegation are US Embassy Chargé d’affaires Heather Variava, Fil-am Congressman Bobby Scott and Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Nani Coloretti, Former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Sandy Winnefeld, NSC Senior Director Edgard Kagan, and US Executive Director to the ADB Chantale Wong.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who arrived on a chartered Air China flight, met with Duterte past 8pm. He leads a big delegation of ranking officials: Ma Yongxiang, Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Wu Jianghao, Foreign Affairs assistant minister; Li Fei, Commerce assistant minister, Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian and other Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.
During the call of Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, meanwhile, the 44-year old Duterte expressed hope that the “golden age of relations” established during her father’s term will “grow into a platinum age” under the Marcos administration.
Hayashi also called on outgoing Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.
Lao PDR’S Deputy Foreign Minister Phoxay Khaykhamphithoune discussed with Duterte areas of cooperation in the fields of education, health, tourism, and trade. The Lao Special Envoy lauded the tourism and education programs of the Philippines, expressing Laos’s interest to learn from the Philippines’s models and strategies in these areas.