BEIJING, Nov 11 — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Manila to attend the Asean summit this week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said today, joining world leaders including US President Donald Trump.
China and the Philippines have long been at loggerheads over competing claims in the South China Sea, and have taken diplomatic swipes at each other in the run-up to the summit.
Beijing accused Manila in October of “erecting multiple obstacles” to its attendance at an Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in the Philippines that month, a claim rejected by the South-east Asian country’s defence chief.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi also urged the Philippines to rein in politicians who had repeatedly “smeared” Beijing and crossed its “red lines”.
