Despite the cancellation of a formal meeting, the pair shook hands on the sidelines of the Asean summit

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Barack Obama has met his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte briefly and exchanged pleasantries, officials said, after a meeting between the two leaders was cancelled due to the latter’s crude comments.

The two leaders were supposed to meet one-on-one on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Vientiane, Laos.

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However, the US president cancelled the meeting after the Philippine leader warned him and other leaders against questioning his bloody anti-drug campaign with the words “son of a whore”.

On Wednesday, Obama and Duterte shook hands and talked briefly before attending a gala dinner at the summit.

“They met at the holding room. They were the last persons to leave the holding room,” the Philippine foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay said, insisting that the countries’ relationship was “firm, very strong.”

A White House official said the exchange “consisted of pleasantries between the two”.

Philippine senator Alan Peter Cayetano said the “warm handshake and good conversation” between Obama and Duterte was a sign that “all’s well that ends well,” adding: “There was an efforts on both sides to patch things up.”



Marciano Paynor, chief Philippine protocol officer and the country’s incoming ambassador to the United States, said Duterte was learning “quick” during the summit, his international debut since becoming president on 30 June.