During the Vietnam War, the US dropped hundreds of millions of tons of explosives, including 80 million bombs that never exploded.
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In the few months since the election campaign and more than two months into the presidency, Duterte has cursed the pope, the United Nations secretary-general and gotten into verbal tussles with the revered Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.
Duterte was speaking with the press about how he would respond should Obama talk about human rights abuses in Duterte’s “war on drugs”, which has resulted in an estimated 2,400 deaths in the two months since he took the presidential reins.
“There has been a lot of concern primarily because I don’t think there is a lot of understanding of the Philippine President or any way to predict what he is going to do”, said Rodger Baker, vice president of strategic analysis at Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence company. He added the USA would “keep an eye” on whether the Philippines was living up to that obligation. In his September 6 speech at Lao National Cultural Hall in Vientiane, Laos, Obama referenced legacy issues stemming from the US intervention in the Lao civil war in the 1960s, adding that the USA will double its annual funding to $90 million over the next three years to help Laos expand its bomb-clearing work.
The president did not come to apologize. He offered no apologies, calling the campaign and its aftermath reminders that “whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a awful toll”.
Thanks to global cleanup efforts, casualties from tennis ball-sized “bombies” that still litter the Laotian countryside have plummeted from hundreds to dozens per year.
ASEAN says it’s best to keep dictators in its midst engaged, because dialogue helps to keep them in check.
Sooner or later, the situation is likely to cause trouble in Washington when members of Congress are asked to continue supporting United States military aid to the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the US would continue to call for due process. That has allowed leaders like Hun Sen, Thailand’s coup leader-turned-premier Prayuth Chan-ocha, the faceless one-party communist rulers of Laos and Vietnam, and the general who once ruled Myanmar to occupy regional legitimacy and defy the West’s call for democratic governance. American warplanes dropped more explosives on this Southeast Asian nation than on Germany and Japan combined in World War II, a stunning statistic that Obama noted during his first day in Vientiane.
Duterte and Obama were to join a much-anticipated formal dinner with the ASEAN state leaders. Taking its turn as the chair of the regional forum, the Laos’ communist government is seizing a rare moment in the spotlight.
Yasay sought to characterise Wednesday’s meeting as proof the alliance was strong enough to withstand such hiccups. The outreach is a core element of his attempt to shift USA diplomatic and military resources away from the Middle East and into Asia in order to counter China in the region and ensure a US foothold in growing markets.
Obama’s visit to Laos follows a stop in China, where he attended the G-20 summit of global economic powers.
Just a few days ago, Duterte had used the Tagalog term “putang ina” in threatening to curse Obama if he raised the issue of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines’ fight against drug dealers.
The White House for its part confirmed the statements from Mr. Duterte and his officials that his meeting with Mr. Obama was postponed, as mutually agreed upon.
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The meeting with the leader of a key American ally in the region had been intended in part to remind the Chinese government that the USA has strong relationships in Southeast Asia, all part of Obama’s strategy of providing a strong counterbalance to the rising Chinese power on the continent. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said at the time that total two-way goods trade between the U.S. and Laos grew five-fold over the preceding decade to $70 million, and two-way agricultural trade grew eight-fold in the same period to $8 million. That deal awaits ratification in the U.S. Congress, where there is opposition from both parties, but Mr. Obama said he planned to do everything possible to persuade lawmakers to approve it before year’s end.
