President Obama and Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte met informally along the sidelines of a summit in Laos Wednesday, a White House official confirmed.
“President Obama had a brief discussion with President Duterte before the ASEAN gala dinner in the leaders’ hold space,” the official told the Washington Examiner. “The exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two.”
The brief encounter took place after the White House said Tuesday it would not reschedule a canceled bilateral powwow with Duterte during the ASEAN summit after he called Obama a “son of a bitch,” then later said he regretted the remark.
“I would not expect a formal bilateral meeting,” White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during a briefing Tuesday in Laos.
Instead, Rhodes said, Obama might have an opportunity to speak with Duterte during the remaining of the ASEAN summit in Laos, as well as the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York “as he interacts with all leaders at those events.”
