Trump 'orders' Philippines president to sing

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has performed “on the orders” of US President Donald Trump while hosting a dinner at the ASEAN Summit in Manila yesterday.

Mr Duterte was filmed performing the duet with pop singer Pilita Corrales at SMX Convention Centre in Pasay City.

Afterwards he can be heard telling the audience he had acted "on the orders of the commander-in-chief of the United States".

The two leaders were photographed speaking and shaking hands at the dinner and will be participating in talks today.

Mr Trump is on a five-country trip through Asia to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

He is not expected to confront Mr Duterte, who has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing, alarming human rights advocates around the world.

Government officials estimate that well over 3000 people, mostly drug users and dealers, have died in the ongoing crackdown. Human rights groups believe the victim total is far higher, perhaps closer to 9000.

Breaking with his presidential predecessors, Mr Trump has largely abandoned publicly pressing foreign leaders on human rights, instead showing a willingness to embrace international strongmen for strategic gain.

He has cozied up to autocrats such as Saudi Arabia's King Salman, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier in this trip to Asia, he made no mention of human rights during multiple appearances in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

With AP.