On Monday, he also explained his demand for the USA to pull its forces by showing pictures of United States troops killing Muslims as America took control of its new colony in the early 1900s. Duterte’s recent demand to remove USA military personnel from Philippines’ territory got an official answer of Washington, which said it had not received a formal request to remove its troops.
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But the fiery Filipino leader said Monday in a new version of that event that in fact he chose to scrap the meeting in reaction to USA criticism of his bloody anti-crime campaign, which has claimed nearly 3,000 lives since he took office.
Duterte, who assumed the presidency in June, has had an uneasy relationship with the USA, his country’s longtime treaty ally.
“There is no shift in so far as our policy is concerned with respect to our close friendship with the Americans”, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said today.
Since 2002, special forces soldiers were deployed to Mindanao by Washington to train and advise Philippine personnel fighting Islamist militants in a program that once involved 1200 Americans. When the American forces withdrew in February a year ago, US officials said a smaller contingent of USA military advisers would stay. Details of the current United States military presence in the south were not immediately available.
Mr Duterte did not mention any deadline or say how he intends to pursue his wishes.
Presence of USA troops on the island, which has continued despite constitutional changes made following the “People’s Power” uprising that toppled US -backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has always been a source of discontent among Filipinos.
“I don’t need jets, F-16-that’s of no use to us”, Duterte said.
State Department spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that the Department is not aware of “any official communication” from the Philippine government demanding USA forces’ removal. The photos showed US soldiers standing next to piles of dead Moros.
Another US official said there were only a “handful” of special forces in Mindanao acting in limited liaison roles.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella described Duterte’s presentation as a “backgrounder” for Filipinos that explained his independent foreign policy.
She said that Duterte should junk the “unequal treaties and agreements” between the Philippines and the U.S. which were signed by the previous administrations.
The comments by Duterte, former mayor of the southern city of Davao known for his volatile temperament, has raised questions regarding the impact his rise to the presidency this year will have on one of Washington’s key alliances in Asia. At one point, more than 1,000 USA troops were working in and around Mindanao, the largest major island in the archipelago’s south.
Lorenzana corrected the President’s assertion that the aircraft were bought from the United States. The reason is that I do not like the Americans.
Duterte has vowed to press his campaign, despite growing global criticism. “We might as well give it up”, Duterte of the massacre.
On Sept. 3, Duterte issued a warning before the summit began in Laos that Obama better not condemn his law-and-order policies, or “son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum”.
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But with no official comment from the Philippine military and the USA, it is hard to determine how many American troops are now in the southern region.
