Noy still hopeful of meeting with Hu

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino remains hopeful that he could still meet Chinese leader Hu Jintao after their tete-a-tete in Vladivostok, Russia was canceled.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Aquino said he hopes the two of them would have a dialogue so they could have a heart-to-heart talk and share their thoughts in total honesty and openness.

“So that seems to be the way forward to settle all of these things,” he said.

Aquino hinted the meeting might take place in Cambodia during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in November.

“I cannot say warmed up relationship already, but at least it’s less cold than what it was,” he said.

It’s an opportunity for the heads of state to have a frank exchange of ideas, Aquino said.

Speaking to reporters, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda could not say if Hu would still be China’s leader when the ASEAN summit is held in November.

“We don’t know when is the turnover of the new president of China... I mean the new leadership of China.”

Lacierda refused to say if the meeting would still take place.

“Any other meetings that are planned I don’t know yet, except for the ASEAN, where there will be an opportunity for both the leaders of the Philippines and China to meet,” he said.

Last week’s meeting between Aquino and Hu at the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Russia failed to push through due to lack of common time for the two leaders.

Aquino told reporters Wednesday at Camp Aguinaldo that they wanted to sit down and discuss the Spratlys issue, but tight schedules prevented them from doing so.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters in a briefing in Russia last week that the Chinese leader could not accommodate or squeeze in Aquino on the available schedule the DFA had set for the purpose.

“We gave them the dates and the time when we would be open and we asked them to look at that and it didn’t jibe with theirs,” he said.