Philippines opens 31st ASEAN amid US Trump protesters

By Hader Glang
MANILA, Philippines (AA) - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday formally opened the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit (ASEAN) as thousands of anti Trump protestors clashed with police.

GMA News reported that a policeman was injured after a large crowd of anti-Trump protesters attempted to breach the security line.

It said the protesters, opposing Trump's attendance to the regional summit, clashed with the police's dispersal teams and they used water cannons to stop the protesters.

The report said a violent dispersal happened as the protesters attempted to enter Padre Faura Street and proceed near the US Embassy along Roxas Boulevard. The clash happened as President Duterte opened the summit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

His opening remarks put emphasis on regional security as the center of discussions. He was very grateful to international partners for assistance in Marawi crisis. He said extremism, and terrorism endangers the security of ASEAN. Duterte added that ASEAN has come to agree on the protection and promotion of migrant workers.
The opening ceremony welcomed the members - leaders of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam - and their dialogue partners.

They are the prime ministers of Canada, Japanese, New Zealand, Australia, India, Russia, and presidents of United States, European Council, United Nations Secretary General, and Chinese Premier.
As of this writing, the 10 ASEAN leaders and their dialogue partners are discussing the threat of nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula, the spread of extremism in the region and the territorial dispute in South China Sea, among other things.
They are also expected to tackle the Rohinya crisis, Myanmar earlier was reportedly seeking the ASEAN for help regarding the plight of refugees in Rakhine State.
"Myanmar said it very explicitly, we need ASEAN’s help,” Manila Bulletin quoted Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano as telling reporters at the sidelines of an ASEAN-related security meeting in Pasay City on Sunday.
However, Myanmar's Suu Kyi, who arrived in the Philippines on Saturday, was mum on her government’s plans for the Rohingya ethnic refugees, 600,000 of whom have fled Myanmar since August, when the army cracked down on insurgents in what the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.
Instead she discussed her country’s progress in terms of “integrity, plus business”.
“We depend for our economic development the enhancement of integrity. I think that’s a better way of … putting it than saying getting rid of corruption,” Suu Kyi said.
She noted that some of those who previously did business in Myanmar have said it was easier to do so then because they only had to know whom to bribe. Now, they have to know how to do business “the right way”.
“For Myanmar, newly emerged from decades of economic and political isolation, and amid the recent global economic slowdown, there are many challenges. Yet, despite these, we remain committed to stay the course to achieve inclusive and sustainable development together with all ASEAN countries,” Suu Kyi said.