FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Asia, Pacific Heads of State Are in Singapore To Attend Summits
Nov. 13, 2018 (EIRNS)—Many Asian heads of state and important national officials are now in Singapore for the ASEAN summit, pre-meetings, and bilateral talks, Nov. 13-15; the East Asia Summit, Nov. 14-15; and afterwards, the APEC meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Attendees include the leaders of India, China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and others.
Pre-ASEAN activities by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, included addressing the 44th session of the Singapore Lecture, attended by over 1,000 persons from the business community. China and Singapore are also engaged in making new accords.
President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea, beginning Nov. 15, when he will address the APEC CEO meeting. After Port Moresby, Xi will visit Brunei, and then the Philippines, ending his junket Nov. 21. Xinhua describes part of the intent of Xi’s tour as opening up the Maritime Silk Road in the Pacific Islands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived today in Singapore on a three-day visit, during which time he was scheduled to hold talks with Singapore’s leadership, and take part in the ASEAN and East Asia Summits. On the sidelines, Putin will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Today, Putin joined with Singapore’s President Madam Halimah Yacob in a ceremony laying the foundation stone of the Russian Cultural Center and an Orthodox Church in Singapore.
The United States is represented at the ASEAN and APEC summits by Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Leading up to Singapore, Pence was in Tokyo today, to meet with Prime Minister Abe. Pence spoke of shared “Indo-Pacific” activity, the favored term carrying anti-China meaning, but he agreed on building good relationships with China. He spoke of “a free and open Indo-Pacific that is based upon fair rules.” Pence and Abe agreed to cooperate in increased investment of each nation in the other’s development, and to start talks to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement. This is expected some time at the beginning of 2019. They affirmed collaboration in bringing about the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and maintaining sanctions on North Korea until that time.
