Duterte to visit Japan anew

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is set to again visit Japan in May to attend a regional conference.

A Kyodo report said Duterte accepted the invitation to attend the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, organized by Nikkei Daily, scheduled on May 30 and 31. 

His visit to Japan will be his third since he became president in 2016.

In an apparent attempt to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Washington’s pledge to “oppose” any country that attempted to dominate the Asia Pacific or Indo-Pacific, the United States, Japan and Australia would consult with governments in the region, including the Philippines, for identification of projects for financing under the new trilateral partners infrastructure fund to avoid “unsustainable debt burdens.”

In the Nov. 17, 2018 joint statement of the governments, the three nations said the trilateral partnership seeks to be a force-multiplier in the Indo-Pacific, providing a new vehicle through which countries in the region can coordinate to advance their infrastructure priorities.  

The three governments said the partnership intends to work with governments of the Indo-Pacific to support and encourage infrastructure projects that “adhere to international standards and principles for development, including openness, transparency and fiscal sustainability.”

In the lead-up to the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka, the US, Japan and Australia intend to work with other members of the G20 to promote quality infrastructure development.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Export Finance and Insurance Corp., the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the US Overseas Private Investment Corp. signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) to operationalize the Trilateral Partnership for Infrastructure Investment in the Indo-Pacific which was announced in Washington on July 30.  

Through the MOU, the three governments vowed to work together to mobilize and support the deployment of private sector investment capital and deliver major new infrastructure projects, enhance digital connectivity and energy infrastructure and achieve mutual development goals in the Indo-Pacific.

Japan and Australia joined the US to create a scheme for investing in countries across Asia and the Pacific.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo vowed a new era of engagement and pledged to “oppose” any country that attempted to dominate the Asia-Pacific, or Indo-Pacific, region.

The US warned that China’s Belt and Road “seems to want to define its own rules and norms.”