Xi to skip summit

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines on Thursday confirmed that President Xi Jinping will not be attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and Related Meetings in November and will instead be represented by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Embassy Counselor Ethan Sun said President Xi would be in Danang, Vietnam for APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).

“The same with Russia, President (Vladimir) Putin will be in APEC, their prime minister will be here, for China it’s the same,” he said on the sidelines of the China-Philippines Dialogue 2017.

In his keynote speech, Sun as- sured that the two countries are enjoying growing political mutual trust and frequent exchange of high-level visits.

“In about two weeks, we might be expecting Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China to pay an official visit to the Philippines, first of this kind by a Chinese Premier in 10 years,” he said.

Ambassador Marciano Paynor earlier announced that 21 heads of state and government, including United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will participate in the summit.

While President Xi won’t be visiting Manila during the summit, Sun said the two nations continue to pursue an improved bilateral relations as it enters a “new era” of cooperation in various fields, including bilateral trade which grew 7.6 percent to $28 billion as of July.