October 21, 2016 (updated)
(LOOK) Xi gives Duterte red carpet treatment
President Rodrigo Duterte is now meeting with Chinese officials led by President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, October 20.
Duterte and Xi hold expanded bilateral meeting with respective Cabinet members
At his arrival, Duterte was treated with full military honors at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the ceremonial legislature in the heart of Beijing.
The Great Hall of the People functions as the meeting place for the full sessions of the Chinese parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC). It also serves as the meeting place of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Honor guards and a number of schoolchildren waving Philippine and Chinese flags greeted Duterte and Xi as they walked the red carpet together.
This is Duterte and Xi’s first meeting and part of the Philippine president’s foreign policy shift of reaffirming alliance with China while gradually abandoning the United States.
