Tour De Asia Highlights: Anti-Trump Protests in Manila, Trump Skips East Asia Summit

US President Donald Trump decided to skip the East Asia Summit, an annual meeting of more than a dozen countries in Manila, as the meeting was delayed for a couple of hours. Earlier, the White House had added the international summit into the schedule, after concerns were raised that missing it might signify a lack of US interest in Asia.

Trump later opted to get on Air Force One and fly back to Washington. His flight left more than 30 minutes earlier than planned and he also missed a group photo with other world leaders, reported The Guardian.

Ending his Asia Tour, Trump bragged that “it was a red carpet like nobody, probably has ever received. And that really is a sign of respect, perhaps for me a little bit, but really for our country.” But international experts argue that despite his much championed “$300 billion trade deals”, he achieved little.

“The principal takeaway from Trump’s big Asia trip: virtually zero progress on any issue that matters to the Americans,” Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer wrote in a report, “Ultimately, that’s the biggest win for China.”

Trump’s visit in Manila didn’t go as smoothly as he would have expected. Hundreds of activists and protesters marched towards the US embassy in Manila to protest against US militarism.

The riot police clashed with the protesters and deployed water cannons and sonic alarms to push back the protesters.

A left-wing Filipino movement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) called for protests against the American president, whom they describe as “a warmonger, racist and fascist who also supports repressive regimes” on each of the three days of the summit.

Describing Trump as the ‘CEO of US imperialism out to wreck havoc on the world’, Bayan’s secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said:

“Trump today is the biggest threat to peace. He is provoking conflict in the Korean Peninsula. He wants to continue the “war on terror” in the Philippines and drop bombs on Moro communities. He wants to further open up economies of developing countries. He uses US military aid to prop up fascist regimes that violate human rights, in exchange for acceptance of US dictates,”

The demonstrators carried an effigy of Trump with four arms in the shape of a Nazi swastika, each of them carrying a missile and a bulldozer symbolising the exploitation of natural resources, a gun and a bag of money.

“This [Nazi swastika] is the fascist spinner” one protester called it on social media.

In addition to chanting slogans against the US President, some protesters also carried placards describing ASEAN as "neoliberal" and “privatising".

Earlier, anti-Trump protests were organised in Soul and Tokyo against the US President’s military threats to North Korea. The demonstrators argued that Trump's policies are only widening the social divide. They chanted "Love not hate" and shouted that they are united and will never be divided.

At the second leg of his Asia tour in South Korea, Trump had warned the North Korea not to underestimate the US power. During his visit, South Korean police was kept on high alert as hundreds protested against Trump’s visit.

“We oppose the visit to South Korea by Trump, who has heightened the fears of war on the Korean Peninsula,” said one of the protesters part of the “No Trump Coalition.

(with inputs from IANS)