New Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived on his first state visit to the Philippines yesterday, as the fate of a Filipina facing execution for drug smuggling in his country hovers over planned talks.
Widodo, on the last stop of a three-nation trip that has taken him to Malaysia and Brunei, is scheduled to meet with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III today, with the pair expected to sign several agreements, the presidential palace in Manila said.
However, his visit comes as the Philippines tries to prevent the execution of a female national facing death by firing squad in Indonesia after being convicted of smuggling heroin.
A spokesman for Aquino, Edwin Lacierda, said the leaders would discuss drug trafficking, but did not say if they would address the case of the woman, who has not been publicly named.
“We are in discussions to further work out cooperation in various areas of mutual interest and concerns, such as migrant workers, technical-vocational skills upgrading, the combatting of trafficking of narcotics, and [for] educational visits,” Lacierda said.
China is also likely to be on the agenda, analysts said, with Indonesia regarded as having a potentially pivotal role in calming rising tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Then-president-elect Widodo told Japan’s Asahi Shimbun in August last year that Indonesia, which has better bilateral ties with China than the Philippines, stood ready to act as an intermediary.
“Indonesia has the gravitas to be the champion of peace in the ASEAN. Widodo can also be our partner in our efforts to improve relations with China,” former Philippine ambassador to ASEAN Wilfrido Villacorta said.
“Even if Indonesia is not a claimant country [in the South China Sea dispute], it has always been playing the role of a convener of important discussions on the issue since the 1980s,” said Villacorta, now an international relations specialist at De la Salle University in Manila.
The Philippines signed a maritime border accord with Indonesia in May last year that has been hailed as a model for peacefully settling territorial disputes.
Last month, Widodo angered several countries by allowing the execution of six offenders on drug charges last month, including five foreigners. Eight prisoners convicted on drugs charges are scheduled to be executed this month.
The Philippines does not have the death penalty.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in