Duterte to invite Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Davao home

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is hoping that President Xi Jinping will accept his invitation to visit his residence in Davao City when the leader of China visits the country later this month.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo revealed that Duterte disclosed the invitation when interviewed by a group of Chinese reporters on Wednesday in preparation for Xi’s visit.

“He was asked whether he will bring Xi to his Davao home. He said of course,” Panelo said after the regular media briefing yesterday in Malacañang.

If Xi accepts the President’s invitation, he will be the second leader invited by Duterte to his Davao residence, following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in January 2017. 

Abe even ate durian during his visit to Duterte’s home province.

Duterte and Xi first met during the Chief Executive’s official visit to Beijing shortly after his assumption to office in 2016. 

They also met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Da Nang, Vietnam last year.

Xi officially visited the Philippines in November 2015 to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting during the term of former president Benigno Aquino III.

When he assumed office, Duterte charted an independent foreign policy leaning towards China, which differed from Aquino, who pushed the US-backed move to file the arbitration case against Beijing regarding the assertion of rights over disputed territories in the South China Sea.

An arbitral court at The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in that case.