Earlier, the U.S. cancelled a meeting with the Philippines at Laos after Duterte Obama as a “son of a whore” and warned him not to question his policy of extrajudicial killings, while answering a reporter’s question about how he intends to explain recent events in the Philippines to the U.S. President.
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Aside from comments made about his fashion sense, the firebrand Philippine leader seemed to make good on his pre-summit comments aimed at US President Barack Obama.
He insisted that his remarks were not directed at Obama, but at the USA state department, which has raised concerns over potential human rights violations in Duterte’s anti-crime campaign that has left around 3,000 dead in just over two months.
Since Duterte was sworn into office, the global media coverage on the Philippines has increased primarily because of the extrajudicial killings related to the war on drugs.
Duterte and Obama were due to hold talks on Tuesday but the White House canceled the meeting after Duterte’s expletive-laden tirade against the U.S. and Obama on Monday before leaving for Vientiane.
“We will observe and must insist on the time-honoured principle of sovereignty, sovereign equality, non-interference and the commitment of peaceful settlements of disputes that will serve our people and protect the interests of the country”, Duterte said in his arrival statement as he returned to the Philippines shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Obama, closing out his final presidential trip to Asia, said his meetings with foreign leaders during the trip had illustrated that governing is serious business requiring knowledge, preparation and thought-out policies that can actually be implemented.
Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime. Who is he? You must be respectful.
The crackdown has seen Duterte’s domestic popularity soar but has prompted widespread global condemnation from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs, and the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines said it was also damaging investor sentiment.
Duterte arrived in Indonesia overnight after attending the Asean conference and is scheduled to meet Widodo to discuss matters of maritime security.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte link their hands during the ASEAN Plus Three summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at the National Convention Center Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 in Vientiane, Laos.
“I can tell you from the interactions I have had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders that this is serious business”, Obama added.
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He said that Philippines and the USA will cooperates on the issue of narco traffickers and will hold talks as soon as the Philippines chalks out its plans about what are the areas of possible cooperation between the two nations. “Also gave a statement before, several weeks ago, about the human rights violation. And we have long ceased to be a colony of the United States”, Duterte added.
