Trump accepts Duterte’s ASEAN summit invitation
Japan-China ties marked
WASHINGTON, Sept 30, (Agencies): President Donald Trump has backed away from a threat to skip a summit with South East Asian leaders in the Philippines later this year, with the White House saying it had accepted an invitation from host Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement Friday, the White House said that Trump will visit Manila as part of a bumper Nov 3-14 tour of China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the US state of Hawaii.
The announcement tees up a meeting between Trump and President Duterte, who has been accused of “crimes against humanity” for waging a bloody war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives.
During a visit to ASEAN’s Jakarta headquarters in April, Vice-President Mike Pence had promised allies — anxious about waning US engagement in the region — that Trump would attend the bloc’s summit in Manila this November.
Since then Trump’s souring bromance with Duterte — prompted, in part, by Duterte’s rights record and his vow in July to never visit “lousy” America — had thrown those plans in the air.
Trump said earlier this month that Duterte had extended an invitation, but the US president pointedly said he had not yet decided whether to accept.
Manila slams West:
The Philippines vigorously defended its human rights record on Friday, accusing the West of bias, hypocrisy and interference after 39 mostly European nations expressed concern about thousands of killings during Manila’s ferocious war on drugs.
More than 3,800 Filipinos have been killed by police in anti-drug operations since President Rodrigo Duterte came to office 15 months ago and launched what he promised would be a brutal and bloody crackdown on drugs and crime.
Human rights groups say the figure is significantly higher and accuse police of carrying out executions disguised as sting operations, and of colluding with hit men to assassinate drug users.
The authorities strenuously reject those claims and Duterte insists he has never incited police to commit murder, despite his frequent and animated speeches about killing drug dealers.
During the periodic review on Thursday at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, 38 countries backed a statement by Iceland urging the Philippines to take “all necessary measures to bring these killings to an end”.
Japan-China ties marked:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended a ceremony Thursday marking the anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and China as well as China’s national day, in a display of his intent to improve delicate relations between the Asian neighbors.
Abe was the first Japanese leader to take part in the annual ceremony in more than a decade. He said he hoped Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Japan at the earliest possible date.
Abe said stronger ties between Japan and China benefit the two countries and also are indispensable for peace and stability in Northeast Asia “given the current situation” in the region, referring to the escalating nuclear and missile threat from North Korea, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Abe’s attendance on a busy day on which he dissolved the lower house of parliament for snap elections was seen as a gesture of his willingness to improve ties. Many Chinese deeply resent Japan over its brutal occupation of much of their country in the 1930s and 1940s and tensions spiked in 2012 amid a dispute over East China Sea islands held by Japan but claimed by China.
On Friday, Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties in a further sign of a desire to repair relations.
Li said he hopes Japan can “meet China halfway to safeguard the political foundation of their bilateral ties, properly manage and control their contradictions and differences, and promote the steady improvement and development of their relations,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Leak at Fukushima:
Contaminated water might have leaked from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors after erroneous settings on water gauges lowered the levels of groundwater nearby.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said Friday the settings on six of the dozens of wells around the reactors were 70 cms (3 feet) below the requirement. Groundwater at one well briefly sank below the contaminated water inside in May, possibly causing the radioactive water to leak into the soil.
TEPCO is investigating, but says samples have shown no abnormal increase in radioactivity and leaks to the outside are unlikely.