Rodrigo DutertePhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret on Tuesday for a tirade against Barack Obama in which he called the U.S. leader a “son of a whore”.
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Obama and Duterte had been set to meet in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders.
In addition to President Obama, Duterte has insulted women in a disparaging manner, many worldwide institutions, and has even taken on Pope Francis, according to the New Yorker.
Duterte in a statement said his comments “came across as a personal attack on the US President”, Xinhua news agency reported.
However, a statement released by the Philippine president on Tuesday expressed regret for the tirade against his USA counterpart.
National Security Council Spokesperson, Ned Price, made the announcement through the White House press pool, that Obama would not be holding a bilateral meeting with Duterte.
“He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations”. “It’s just an expression. I don’t think it was directed to President Obama”.
Calling Duterte “a colourful guy”, Obama said he was asking his staff to find out whether a meeting would be useful. “We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or [been] put behind bars – or below the ground, if they so wish”, Duterte said during his State of the Nation speech on July 25.
“I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet.”
Duterte likely had realized his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Monday night.
The total of 2,927 is more than 500 higher than the figure released by police on Sunday, and equates to an average of 44 a day since Duterte took office on June 30.
“Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue”. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions.
On Tuesday, Mr. Duterte expressed regret over the remarks, but the damage was already done.
And the Western press, on which the State Department and Obama have been basing their concerns about human rights violations under Duterte, has invariably taken the position that it needs no further proof other than anecdotal and cherry-picked evidence that its “parachuting” journalists pick up.
Duterte may find it amusing to use an anti-gay slur to refer to the US ambassador and to insult Obama’s mother, but his comments play to a potent strain of anti-U.S. sentiment – sentiment that could shift the balance of power in the South China Sea. Philippine-China ties were strained under Duterte’s predecessors due to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. Beijing has rejected the ruling as a sham.
Although Asean has the power of the ruling behind it, its summit is unlikely to mention it in its final declaration, a reflection of Beijing’s diplomatic clout.
Laos is still considered the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. “You just can not shoot a statement against the president of any country”. And it’s something that only someone like Duterte can say. One of the Chinese vessels had what appeared to be a crane, according to a Philippine official.
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“As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States”, he said.
