In a rare moment of diplomatic tumult ahead of an ASEAN summit, the 71-year-old Duterte cursed on Monday at President Barack Obama, warning the world’s most powerful man not to question him about the rising body count in his crackdown or “son of a bitch I will swear at you”.
Advertisement
He touted new military aid and US support for regional cooperation in addressing maritime disputes.
This would be the eighth meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Obama in two years.
Obama and Duterte are in the Laotian capital along with other regional leaders for the summit. They met for the first time at the White House in September 2014, when Mr. Modi travelled to Washington DC at the invitation of Mr. Obama. Obama then decided that in light of Duterte’s comments, the two probably couldn’t have a “productive” discussion during his final presidential trip to Asia and canceled the meeting. Obama plans to tour a Buddhist temple, before opening himself up for questions from young Southeast Asians at a town hall-style event at a local university.
Obama has said that the United States has a moral obligation to clean up, while refraining from offering a formal apology for a campaign the American people did not know about.
President Barack Obama is touring a rehabilitation center in Laos that treats survivors of bombs the USA dropped on the country during the Vietnam War. However, the bilateral meeting was called off by the US, saying that this may not be the right time for the leaders to have a dialogue.
The Lao government said it would increase efforts to recover remains and account for Americans missing since the Vietnam War. Millions of bombs dropped by the USA during the Vietnam war remain littered across Laos and explosions have killed and maimed thousands. He touted his administration’s move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years.
The $90 million Obama announced follows $100 million the US has committed in the past 20 years.
On Wednesday, Obama is expected to visit an organisation in Vientiane that works with those disabled by unexploded ordnance, the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise Visitor Center.
Advertisement
A day after announcing $90 million to survey and remove unexploded ordinance, Obama visited a US-backed NGO which helps provide prosthetics to the tens of thousands maimed by U.S. munitions.
