Speaking with reporters on Monday, Duterte insisted that Obama had to right to question him about the scores of extrajudicial killings generated by the crackdown in the Philippines, which has been sharply criticized by human rights groups.
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A migraine has prevented Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte from attending any of the day’s ASEAN meetings, official sources reported.
On Tuesday Mr Obama cancelled planned talks after the firebrand Mr Duterte called him the “son of a whore”.
Obama’s remarks came at the end of a grueling nine-day trip that took the him to Laos and China following US stops in Nevada, Hawaii and Midway Atoll, a USA -controlled coral reef in the Pacific Ocean.
Nevertheless, Duterte’s office earlier Wednesday released a statement saying he would sit next to Obama at the gala dinner.
Obama called off the meeting.
The breakdown of relations between the United States and Philippines is a setback, as both countries have been long-time allies and are tied by a mutual defence treaty to help each other in times of war. “How that fits in with the work that we are already doing with the Philippines and hopefully it will be on a strong footing by the time the next administration comes in”, he added.
When asked if Duterte’s headaches happen often, Duterte spokesman Jose Ruperto Martin Andamar said, “It’s not regular, but when he is exhausted and he is always working”.
On being asked if he interacted with the Philippine President in Laos, he said, “I did shake hands with President Duterte last night”.
During a speech earlier, Obama said the USA focuses on improving human rights in other nations when he travels overseas because it has learned that if you don’t respect all people or religions, then it results in conflict.
But he said the overall relationship between the two nations is still solid. The exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two.
However, the countries overcame the “hesitations of history” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for greater engagement with South East Asian countries even as the “Look East” policy was renamed “Act East” policy.
“With respect to the bilateral meeting, I think it was our judgment that given the focus of attention on President Duterte’s comments leading into the meetings here, we felt that that did not create a constructive environment for a bilateral meeting”.
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“This is my ancestors being killed, so why now we are talking about human rights?” It’s the last of 10 trips Obama paid as president to Asia, where Obama lived as a youngster with his mother in Indonesia.
