This was after Moscow granted temporary asylum to National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden when China let him leave Hong Kong instead of extraditing him to the U.S. as requested by Washington.
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Obama is also likely to hold an unscheduled meeting in Laos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, Rhodes said. Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology from the United States for misdeeds committed during its colonization of the country.
Li’s trip, which came on the heels of the Group of 20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, is widely considered an important diplomatic move to deepen China’ s relations with the ASEAN, and promote cooperation among East Asian countries.
Duterte on Monday seemed to be referring to the germ of colonialism of the American variety that had been stricken to oblivion by the bolos of Bonifacio and his fellow Filipino revolutionaries more than 100 years ago.
“You must be respectful”, the President was quoted as saying in a media briefing before his departure for Laos Monday. Do not just throw questions and statements.
That caused a reaction heard around the world by the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, calling President Obama either a “son of a bitch” or the “son of a whore” depending on your version of the translation. Obama plans to put a human face on the issue when he meets Wednesday in Vientiane with survivors of bombs that America dropped. “Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum”.
He has also branded Pope Francis and the U.S. ambassador to Manila sons of whores. Duterte had earlier sought to taint the reputation of Pope Francis’ mother in similar fashion.
“We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries”, said the statement.
Spokesman Ernesto Abella said that the meeting cancellation was a mutual agreement, and that it would be postponed for a later date. “I will be charting a [new] course [for the Philippines] on its own and will not be dependent on the United States”, Duterte said one day after he was elected.
The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the U.S. president over a war against drugs in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months.
And U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is also part of the “son of a bitch” club, after Ban said the drug killings were “illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
He faces a tricky time with military ally the U.S., given he has criticized those who called into question his violent war against drug suspects that has seen 2,400 people killed so far.
About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classified as “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings.
“Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations”.
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“I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”, Duterte replied. Philippine-China ties were strained under Duterte’s predecessors due to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. He’s also questioned the U.S. commitment to protecting Philippine interests and irked Washington by indicating he is open to direct talks with China. An global arbitration panel recently ruled that China’s expansive claims in the sea are illegal.
