TOKYO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Japan from Oct 29 to 31 for a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government said Wednesday. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said Mr Abe and Mr Duterte will discuss pressing issues facing the region and the world ahead of Manila's hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders' summit and the East Asia Summit next month. "Based on the friendly relations that Japan and the Philippines have built over many years, we want to deepen our cooperation as strategic partners for the stability and prosperity of the region," Mr Suga told a press conference. It will be Mr Duterte's second visit to Japan since he took office in June last year. Last October he and Mr Abe affirmed in Tokyo their cooperation toward the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, to which several countries including China lay overlapping claims, in accordance with international law.

Source: Bangkok Post October 25, 2017 05:26 UTC