VP-elect Sara Duterte meets China, Vietnam counterparts, other foreign delegates

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President-elect Sara Duterte and seven foreign delegations, including those led by her Chinese and Vietnamese counterparts, engaged in brief talks on Wednesday.

Delegates from Romania, France, the United States, Japan, Laos, Vietnam, and China separately paid a courtesy call on Duterte as they reaffirmed diplomatic ties between their countries and the Philippines.

A common topic raised during the courtesy calls is education, which Duterte is set to focus on when she also takes the helm of the Department of Education under the incoming administration.

“I thank them for their well wishes for me personally and their well wishes for our country and we are happy they will be able to attend the presidential inauguration,” Duterte told reporters after emerging from a courtesy call by the U.S. delegation.

Vietnam, China VPs

The last two delegations that met the Vice President-elect were led by her counterparts from Vietnam and China.

During the meeting, Vietnam’s Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Duterte “expressed a mutual desire for the continued substantive and effective development of the existing Philippines-Vietnam Strategic Partnership,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a short statement.

The two leaders also tackled “new and existing areas of cooperation, which include labor, health, trade and investment, defense, and education,” the DFA added.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan then met Duterte, who is set to assume the Office of the Vice President by noon on June 30.

Wang is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “special representative” at the inauguration of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

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TAGS: Diplomacy, Sara Duterte