Duterte last week traveled to Marawi to declare it had been “liberated”, a day after the Southeast Asian leader for IS, Isnilon Hapilon, was shot dead there. Mattis flew to the Philippines to attend a meeting hosted by Southeast Asian defense ministers at the former American military base of Clark, two hours’ drive north of Manila. The Philippines is a former American colony and the two nations are bound by a mutual defense treaty. Defense ministers from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Russia are also scheduled to attend the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) event. Mattis’ Asia trip, which will also take him to Thailand and South Korea, comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia next month.

Source: Manila Times October 23, 2017 04:41 UTC