Both presidents are among leaders gathering for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Laos.
Advertisement
The outreach is a core element of Obama’s attempt to focus USA policy on Asia in order to counter China’s dominance in the region and ensure a foothold in growing markets.
Police said little Althea’s death was “collateral” damage in Mr Duterte’s war on drugs that has been condemned by the United States, United Nations, Catholic Church and many civil society organisation in the Philippines.
The flap over Duterte’s remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama.
The White House canceled the meeting and said Mr. Obama will meet instead with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
President Obama is shrugging off a rude remark from his Philippine counterpart, but the outburst from Rodrigo Duterte could derail a scheduled meeting between the two leaders this week. Apparently addressing Obama, he added saying “You must be respectful”.
“You don’t just slap the face of the most powerful country in the world and expect to get away with it”, Sen. However, Duterte later expressed regret over his comments on the U.S. leader.
Obama stated: “We will always assert the need to have due process … if and when we have a meeting this is something that is going to be brought up”.
The Philippines stock market bucked the regional trend today, down 0.6% even though other emerging Asian countries from China to India rallied on weak U.S. August jobs data.
The Philippine President has faced condemnation from human rights campaigners, diplomats and the United Nations for inciting a war on drugs.
The UN has repeatedly condemned Duterte’s policies as a violation of human rights.
“An invaluable occasion to have our leaders meet for the goal of discussing how to strengthen our comprehensive areas of cooperation would have been a golden opportunity”, del Rosario said.
While Obama ostensibly canceled the meeting due to a dispute over Duterte’s anti-drug crusade, the real source of the tensions is Washington’s increasing displeasure over Duterte’s failure to play his assigned role in the USA pivot to Asia.
Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers.
The war on drugs will continue and many will be killed “until the last pusher is out of business”, he said. In June, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the killings were “illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
In reaction, the United States authorities cancelled the meet.
China rejects those accusations, and in turn blames the U.S. for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily.
USA officials have also expressed deep concern over the possibility of China developing Scarborough into an island or starting to erect concrete structures there, which could reinforce Beijing’s control over a swath of the South China Sea.
Advertisement
MALACAÑANG on Tuesday released a copy of Proclamation 55, declaring a state of national emergency “to suppress lawless violence in Mindanao and prevent it from spreading all over the country”, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the document.
